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The Student's 
history of Our Country 

For Grammar Grades 



BY 

R. G. HALL 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CLEBURNE, TEXAS 

HARRIET SMITHER 

TEACHER OF HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY, CLEBURNE, TEXAS 

CLARENCE OUSLEY 

EDITOR OF THE RECORD, FORT WORTH, TEXAS 



DALLAS, TEXAS 
THE SOUTHERN PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1912 • 



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Copyright, 1912, by 
THE SOUTHERN PUBLISHING CO. 



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^ ■ PREFACE 



The purpose of this book has been to present the history of 
our country as a growth ; each period shapes and colors the 
periods that follow it, and the past thus gradually blends into 
the present. Therefore, in the organization of the subject- 
matter what has seemed to be the logical development has been 
followed rather than a grouping of events under presidential 
admmistrations or other mere chronological divisions. Geog- 
raphy is the essential background of history and careful atten- 
tion has been paid to geographic features throughout the book 
\\ herever practicable, simple facts of government have been 
embodied m the text as an essential part of the pupil's knowl- 
edge of history. Short biographical sketches of many of our 
great countrymen have been given because the life of the in- 
dividual appeals to the child and because these leaders represent 
m themselves the best characteristics of the people they led 
Deeds of heroism and human interest have been related as 
space would allow. Particular stress has been laid upon social 
and economic history as all-powerful forces in the develop." 
nient of the countn-. 

In the preparation of tl,e text a careful study of many 
sources has been made a„<I many authorities have been con- 
sulted, mcluding books of hke character to this, those <lesi.„ed 
for h,gl, school and for college use, and the ,nore exten.lcd 
works on history. 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 

Assignment of Lessons. In the teaching of history the pupil 
should be given a proper appreciation of the facts in our country's 
development and of their relative importance; but chiefly should 
he be taught correct habits in learning, for many of the facts will 
be forgotten, while the mental habits will remain as a part of his 
equipment for life. The text book is to be used as the guide and 
background for class exercises, and it is particularly necessary 
that the teacher, before assigning lessons to the class, get a grasp 
of a whole period — its organization and proportion as presented 
in the text. Portions of the history vary in difficulty and in value 
and lessons should vary in length accordingly. It is a serious 
mistake to assign lessons of uniform length. 

Importance of Geography and Map Work. The primal 
forces which shape history are the land and the people, hence 
the development of the history of a country must be traced against 
this background of nature. To aid the pupil in seeing the close 
connection between geography and history, the configuration of 
the land must be carefully studied ; every event in the political 
geography should be brought out distinctly in the lesson. Maps 
and map work are indispensable features to successful history 
teaching. Wall maps and atlases are valuable aids, but where 
these cannot be obtained, blackboard outlines and colored chalk 
will be found to be an excellent substitute. The abundant maps 
in the text are designed to aid in historical geography and in map 
work. In the preparation of the lesson these should be carefully 
studied, and should be used for class discussion. The pupil 
should have outline maps, such as are prepared by many pub- 
lishers, and should fill in the events and places mentioned in the 
text. Class maps from memory are a good test of his knowledge 
of historical geography. 

The Recitation. The recitation is the most vital thing in his- 
tory teaching, for here the teacher comes in closest contact with 
the pupil. The judicious teacher, keeping in mind that the great 

V 



vi STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

essential is stimulation of thought, will vary his method of con- 
ducting class exercises. History should not be taught as a mass 
of unrelated facts simply to be memorized; it should be pre- 
sented as a connected whole, a chain of causes and effects that 
appeal to the understanding. 

Use of the Outline. Topical analyses or outlines are excellent 
for the purpose of showing the history as a logical and con- 
nected whole. This book is specially well adapted for the de- 
velopment of the outline as the paragraph headings keep the essen- 
tial facts prominent. But on the printed page it is impossible to 
show the relation of the topics one to another, and a continuous 
outline has been published in pamphlet form. In using this for 
class work the teacher should put the more important topic-head- 
ings on the board and as the recitation progresses, fill in the topics 
of less importance. The outline is valuable for the mental disci- 
pline it affords the pupil ; it teaches him to discriminate between 
essentials and non-essentials ; it stimulates a habit of comparison 
and it cultivates the judgment. 

Use of Questions, In conducting a recitation searching and 
illuminating questions will prove a force in stimulating thought. 
Without the use of questions no recitation can fully accomplish 
its purpose. As an aid to teacher and pupil alike thought ques- 
tions are placed at the end of each chapter. These are to test the 
pupil's understanding of the subject-matter, to provoke thought, 
and to promote the acquisition of knowledge from sources other 
than the text book. 

The Topical Method. The topical method is an excellent 
means of developing fluency and readiness of expression and of 
teaching the pupil the power of grasping and holding each branch 
of a subject. The successful teacher uses many methods, plans, 
and devices to accomplish his purpose, the best results being ob- 
tained by a judicious selection and discriminating use of ques- 
tions, topics, outlines, and written reviews. 

Reviews. In every recitation there should be a rapid review of 
previous work that bears upon the day's lesson. As soon as a 
chapter or a period of the history is covered, several days should 
be given entirely to review, the purpose being to lead to a clearer 
knowledge of historical development. The review may be from 
different standpoints. If the purpose is to fix important dates in 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS vii 

the mind the review may be chronological. Certain dates that 
stand for great landmarks in the history should be assigned and 
the pupil required to associate events with each date, and around 
it to group minor events. Since a knowledge of important dates 
is necessary to understand the meaning of events, a review of this 
nature is especially valuable. The review may be biographical or 
geographical in which cases noteworthy events are to be associated 
either with the names of individuals or of places. Such reviews 
as these are necessarily fragmentary. A more connected review 
is to take up some one subject, as the tariff or the means of trans- 
portation, and trace it through a period or several periods of the 
history. Reviews of this kind give an excellent idea of the per- 
spective of history. 

Written Work. Written reviews are a test of the pupil's ac- 
quisition. Other written work is necessary. Short compositions 
on famous men or on great events strongly impress the facts of 
history on the memory. In such papers the pupil should be held 
rigidly to the lessons he has learned in his language work concern- 
ing methods of expression, punctuation, etc. Simple historical 
charts, representing successive additions of territory or states 
carved out of the different parts of the public domain, can be 
easily made by the pupil ; they make a good written exercise and 
a good review 

Outside Reading. Reading outside the text book is a great 
benefit in history teaching. There are several good books which 
contain extended bibliographies — as, Channing and Hart, Guide 
to American History; Hinsdale, How to Teach History; Bourne, 
The Teaching of History and Chics in the Elementary and Sec- 
ondary Schools. The teacher should have access to at least one 
of these. He should, if possible, provide himself with a few 
good books on history more extended than the text. By means of 
facts gathered from outside reading, the teacher can add vivid 
human touches and wonderful picturesqueness to the events nar- 
rated in the lessons, and the interest and enthusiasm of the class 
will be quickened. A number of readings are suggested in this 
book which will be found beneficial to both teacher and pupil. 
A few simple sources have been chosen for the vividness and 
solidity they add to history. Poetry and simple stories have been 
selected as they give color and charm and are vaJuablc because 



viii STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

they appeal to the feelings and the imagination. Pictures are also 
of great value in developing historical imagination. The illustra- 
tions in the text are an important part of the history and the pupil 
should be taught to study them carefully. Additional pictures are 
suggested. But sources, stories, pictures, and poems may all be 
used and the work may still be dull and lifeless. Success depends 
primarily upon the teacher. He must bring to each recitation 
fresh, as well as comprehensive, knowledge ; he must have newly- 
made plans ; and he must be willing to work. 



Contents 



PART I. EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 
PERIOD I. DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 

1492 TO 1588 
CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Land and the People i 

II Discoveries and Explorations 12 

PERIOD 2. COLONIZATION 
1588 to 1760 

III Chesapeake Bay Colonies 35 

IV New England Colonies 50 

V Colonial Development — New Grants 65 

VI Life in the Colonies 86 

PERIOD 3. STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION 

1689 TO 1789 

VII French and Indian Wars 105 

VIII The American Revolution: Preliminaries 119 

IX The American Revolution : The War in the North . . 136 

X The American. Revolution : On the Frontier and on the 

Sea 161 

XI The American Revolution : The War in the South . . 165 

XII The Critical Period 171 

PART II. THE UNITED STATES UNDER THE 
CONSTITUTION 

PERIOD 4. THE- GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARY 
FATHERS 

1789 TO 1829 

XIII Twelve Years of Federalist Supremacy 183 

XIV Democracy and Expansion 203 

XV The War of 1812: Freedom on the Seas 216 

XVI Transition from the First to the Second Generation of 

Statesmen 232 

ix 



X 



CONTENTS 



PERIOD 5. SECOND GENERATION OF STATESMEN 

1829 TO 1850 
CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII Growth of the American People, 1830-1850 245 

XVIII The Jacksonian Epoch 261 

XIX Another Period of Expansion . 275 

PERIOD 6. ERA OF STRIFE 
1850 to 1876 

XX The Parting of the Ways 293 

XXI Secession and the Confederacy 309 

XXII Two Years of War, 1861-1862 328 

XXIII The War from 1863 to the End 357 

XXIV Reconstruction of the Union 386 

PERIOD 7. THE RE-UNITED STATES 
1876 to I 91 2 

XXV Development of the Nation 406 

XXVI The Spanish War and Its Results : Subsequent Events 436 

Important Dates in American History 474 

United States and Its Possessions 476 

Index 479 



List of Maps 



PAGE 

Physical Features of North America (colored) .... facing 2 
Locations of families and tribes of North American Indians (col- 
ored) facing 10 

The Known World in the Fifteenth Century 12 

Country discovered by Columbus 20 

Routes of voyagers and discoverers 24 

Routes of Spanish Explorers 26 

Crown Grants to Trading Companies 36 

Chesapeake Bay Colonies 38 

New England Colonies 62 

Four Periods of Atlantic Coast Development (colored) . . facing 76 

Carolina as granted by Charles II 81 

French Posts and Forts at the beginning of the French and Indian 

War (colored) facing 107 

Eoston and vicinity, showing Pitcairn's route 131 

Revolutionary War — Campaigns in the North (color.ed) . facing 136 

Washington's Campaign in the winter of 177(>-1777 147 

Routes of Burgoyne and St. Leger, 1777 148 

Howe's route to Philadelphia, 1777 152 

Route of Clark 162 

Revolutionary War — Campaigns in the South (colored) . . facing 166 
United States at the close of the Revolution (colored) . . facing 170 

Free and Slave Territory under the Ordinance of 1787 176 

Routes taken by Lewis and Clark and I)y Zebulon Pike in exploring 

the new territory : . 208 

Territory of active operations in the War of 1812 222 

Territory in dispute between the United States and Mexico .... 283 
Routes of United States Troops in the War with Mexico .... 287 
Territory acquired by the United States between 1789 and 1853 (col- 
ored) facing 290 

Slave and Free Territory after the Compromise of 1850 298 

States controlled by Federals and by Confederates in 1861 (colored) 

facing 320 

Movement of Armies, 1861 329 

The South's First Line of Defenses (colored) facing 328 

xi 



xii . LIST OF MAPS 

Campaign around Perryville 343 

Hampton Roads, First Engagement between Ironclads 346 

Field of operations during the seven days' fighting 352 

Positions and Movements of Armies, 1863 361 

Grant's Route to Vicksburg ^63 

Battles of the Red River Expedition, 1864 365 

Route of Sherman's March to the sea ;ijy 

Showing the gradual southward movement of Confederate defenses . 381 
Transportation Routes, 1885 — 'Standard Time Divisions (colored) 

facing 418 

Hawaiian Islands 433 

Movement of ships around the islands 444 

Line of March to Santiago 447 

Philippine Islands 452 

The Panama Canal and the Canal Zone 459 

Successive Acquisitions of territory by the United States (colored) 

facing 459 

Westward movement of the center of population 469 



THE STUDENT'S HISTORY OF 
OUR COUNTRY 

PART I 

EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 
PERIOD I.— DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 

1492-1588 

CHAPTER I 

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 

In the fifteenth century the center of the civihzation of the 
world was Southern and Western Europe, but even there the 
knowledge of geography was limited. Man had learned to 
navigate the seas, but as yet he had not pushed far out into 
the great oceans that encircle the continents. There were 
vast undiscovered lands and strange peoples of whom he knew 
nothing. 

Shape and Size of North America. North America, the 
part of these far-away lands with which our history is con- 
cerned, is shaped like a triangle, with its apex to the south. 
Three different oceans bound the three sides. The frozen 
Arctic lies to the north ; the eastern shore is washed by the 
waters of the Atlantic, and it is indented by bays and gulfs 
and by broad river mouths or estuaries that serve as fine har- 
bors and that seemed to welcome the early mariners ; on the 
west the Pacific washes a coast of such remarkable regu- 
larity that only three important harbors are found tliroughout 
its whole extent. In size North America ranks third among 
the continents of the earth. 

I 



2 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

The Atlantic Coastal Plain. Looking at the interior of this 
continent, and going from east to west, we find stretching in- 
land from the Atlantic coast as far south as the Hudson 
River, a narrow rugged strip of country abounding in water- 
falls. South of the Hudson this plain gradually widens and 
then turns westward along the Gulf of Mexico. Its average 
width is about two hundred miles, and it is watered by many 
rivers of great length, running lazily down to the sea. The 
land is fertile, comparatively little broken, and well adapted 
to farming. Almost parallel with the Atlantic coast line lie 
the Appalachian Mountains, extending from southeastern Can- 
ada to Alabama, a distance of nearly two thousand miles. The 
average elevation of these mountains is two thousand feet. 
Mitchell's Peak in North Carolina, with an elevation of six 
thousand six hundred and eighty feet, is the highest point. 
These mountain slopes at the time of the discovery were clothed 
with immense forests of pine, spruce, and oak. 

The Great Central Plains. The Appalachian Plateau merges 
into the vast low central plain which is drained partly nortli- 
eastward, but chiefly toward the south through the Mississippi 
and its tributaries into the Gulf of Mexico. Nowhere on the 
globe is there such a great fertile region. It has almost 
every variety of soil and climate, and is watered by grand 
rivers that flow eastward and westward and pay their tribute 
to the noble " Father of Waters." The northern part of this 
area and the southern, as far west as the Ozark Mountains, 
were covered originally by forests of deciduous trees and the 
evergreens, pine and spruce. The central part stretches west- 
ward into rolling prairies, and still farther beyond are the 
great plains, high and dry, that afforded pasturage for count- 
less herds of buffaloes. 

The Western Highland. The western highland consists of 
five parts. First, there are the lofty Rockies, the tallest moun- 
tains of the continent, many of the peaks being over 14.000 
feet above the level of the sea. Beyond the Rocky Mountains 
is the second division of the highland — the plateaus of the 



THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 



Columbia and Colorado and the great interior basin of the 
far west. This part of the continent receives very scanty 
rainfall, and the water collects in pools and salt lakes and 
slowly evaporates. The largest of these inland lakes is the 
Great Salt Lake. Next beyond is the snow-capped Sierra 
Nevada-Cascade Range, and still beyond this, across a beauti- 
ful and fertile valley, is the Coast Range of mountains, which 
seem to rise almost out of the Pacific Ocean, with only a nar- 
row plain between the mountains and the sea. The Pacific 
slope, unlike the Atlantic, has but few large rivers, and these 
come precipitously dow n to the sea through gorges and cafions. 
This whole region is a veritable treasure-house of mineral 
wealth. Connecting all this expanse of mountain, hill, and 
plain, there were only a few footpaths, trails of the Indians 
and wild animals, 
and the water-ways, 
the rivers and lakes, 
on which the Indians 
traveled from place 
to place in their 
birch-bark canoes.^ 

The Indians. In 
this wonderful un- 
known land many 
surprises awaited the 
explorer. Strange 
birds chattered in 
the trees ; strange 
plants covered the 
lurked in the forests 
soil ; strange animals 
and roamed o\'er the 
])lains, but stranger than all were the people who were the 
l)rimitive inhabitants. These natives of America were called 

'The Indians used also a canoe called a dugout. Many an old Indian 
trail is now the route for some trunk-line railroad. 




INDIAN SIGN OF PEACE BETWEEN THOSE OF THE 
WIGWAM AND THOSE OF THE CANOE 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Indians by the early explorers, who supposed they had 
reached India when they sailed westward across the Atlantic 

from Europe. Where these In- 
dians came from, and how long 
they had been in America before 
the coming of the white man, are 
questions that have never been 
satisfactorily answered.^ The 
typical Indian is tall, graceful, 
and well built. His skin is red- 
dish-brown or copper-colored ; 
his cheek bones high ; his eyes 
small and dark ; his hair straight, 
black, and coarse, and his beard 
is scanty. 

The Indians were scattered 
thinly over the whole continent. 
Some of the tribes enjoyed a 
comparatively high degree of 
civilization, while others had 
scarcely emerged from sav- 
agery. ^ The Indians that have 
afifected most the early history of 
our country are the Algonquin 
(al-gon'kwin) family, composed of a number of tribes, living 
along the northern Atlantic coast; the " Five Nations " of the 
Iroquois (ir'o-kwoi'), living inland between Lake Erie and the 

1 Thousands of mounds have been discovered in many parts of America. 
Some of them are shaped hke animals, birds, reptiles, etc., while others 
seem to be sites of villages, and still others have been places of burial. 
Many relics, such as pottery, kettles, pipes, axes, arrow-heads, etc., have 
been taken out of some of these mounds, and it has been supposed that 
the mound builders were people who lived in America before the coming 
of the Indians, but there is no authentic information to indicate that they 
were really a different race, though they possessed a superior^ culture. 

2 In Mexico, the Aztec (az'tek) Indians had reached a high state of 
culture. They had their cities and their temples ; they worked in pottery 
and in metals. In South America the native civilization was at its great- 
est height. 



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A TYPICAL INDIAN 



THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 5 

Hudson/ the Cherokees, a tribe of the Iroquois family that 
had become separated and settled in the country surrounding 
the present site of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Muskogee 
(mus-ko'ge) family, which inckides the intelhgent and war- 
hke tribes of the Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws (chik'a- 
saws), who have been properly called the civilized tribes. 

Life and Occupations of Indians. Indian buildings varied 
with the material of the different sections of the country. In 
one section was found the bark- or skin-co\-ered ivigivam, or 




WIGWAM HOGAN KEYE 

INDIAN DWELLINGS 

sometimes the long wooden house, in which many families 
lived ; in another section the grass lodge; in another, earth- 
covered poles, or the hogan (ho'gan) ; in another the brush 
kcyc (kee) or zuickyiip (wick'y-up) ; in the higher civilization 
one-, two-, and three-story houses of sun-dried brick or stone 
were built into pueblos (pweb'los) or villages.- 

1 There were several branches of the iroquois, but only five united to 
form the general Iroquois Confederacy. These were the Mohawks, 
Senecas (sen'e-kaz), Oneidas (6-ni'daz), Onondagas (on'on-da'gaz), and 
Cayugas (ka-yu'gaz); later the Tuscaroras ( tiis'ka-ro'raz) from North 
Carolina joined them, and they were then known as the " Six Nations." 

2 In the far southwest are hundreds of buildings clinging to the sides 
of the cliff's called Cliff Dwellings. These are frequently almost inacces- 
sible, and are supposed to be places of refuge to which the PucIjIo Indians 
fled for safety when their country was overrun by the hordes of Athapas- 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



For the most part the Indian was content with small posses- 
sions. He sang at his work, was fond of games and sport, 
and delighted to sit with his family in the evening, smoking his 
pipe and telling stories of the great deeds of his tribe. He 




INDIAN PUEBLO. — ONE OF THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA SOUGHT BY THE 

SPANIARDS 

loved to hunt and fish, knew how to imitate the sounds of 
birds and the cries of animals, and could glide through the 
forest as noiselessly and as swiftly as the deer. Though his 
work in agriculture was of the most primitive sort and the in- 
dividual fields were little more than patches, he had developed 
maize (Indian corn) into four edible varieties and was grow- 
ing it from Central South America to the fifty-fourth parallel 
of north latitude. This, the only cereal native to the coun- 
try, was grown in sufficient quantities to prove of untold 
value to the early settlers and explorers. Not only did it fre- 
quently save the li\'es of the colonists as we shall learn later, 
but it made possible the sustenance of the exploring Spanish 
armies for months at a time and for journeys covering many 
hundred miles. In one war the whites destroyed at one time 
for one tribe a million bushels of corn (probably in the 

can (ath-a-pas'kan) Indians from the north. That they sometimes re- 
mained for a generation or more in the refuge is highly probable. 



THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 7 

car), and at another one hundred and sixty thousand bushels 
for another tribe. The Indians had developed a wild tuber 
into what is known as the Irish potato, a gourd into the 
squash of our gardens, some wild plant into an edible bean, 
and another into a melon ; cotton was grown and woven into 
colored cloths which Coronado (cor-o-naMo) has described 
as of great beauty. Little cornfields and tobacco patches 
were usually tilled by women or squaws, who also dressed the 
skins, dried the meat, and made the clothing and moccasins 
for the hunter and the warrior.^ 

The Indians, for all their backwardness in the arts known 
to the white man, possessed no little inventive skill. They 
manufactured their hatchets or tomahawks of stone, their 
arrowheads of flint, and their clubs for war or chase. They 
wove baskets, made pottery and some cloths of beautiful 
design and coloring, and carved pipes and utensils with rare 
handicraft. They had long, tapering snowshoes, which en- 
abled them to skim over the snow sometimes at the rate of 
forty miles a day. Wampum, made of small shells strung to- 




gether, served a number of purposes. Sometimes it was 
made into belts and used as an ornament; often upon these 
wampum belts the treaties between the tribes and the laws of 
the tribes were recorded. The color and pattern of the belt 

1 In most of the tribes the woman was held to be inferior to the man, 
but in some of the tribes she had great influence, occupying a high rank, 
and sometimes she was elevated to the position of chief. 



8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

varied according to the purpose for which it was employed. 
Wampum was also used as money, or as a medium of ex- 
change. The Indian's birch-bark canoe was perhaps his most 
useful invention; this was made by stripping off the bark in 
one piece and fitting it over a light wooden frame/ 

The Indian as a Warrior. The Indian tribes, like the nations 
of the earth until a recent period of history, were much given 
to war. At first glance it might appear that the Indian's 
chief -aim in life was war, but when we reflect that civilized 
history consists in large part of wars and the conquests of 
one nation or one people by another, we will realize that after 
all the Indian was not very different from those who are 
pleased to boast of their superior civilization. The Indian's 
weapons were bows and arrows, clubs, tomahawks,- and stone 
knives. His endurance in war as in the chase was mar\'elous. 
If he were captured by his enemy, the most cruel treatment 
could not force a cry from his lips, and with his last breath 
he would defiantly chant his death song. He excelled in 
physical courage, but, like most primitive peoples, he was in- 
clined to treachery in dealing with his foes. He preferred to 
fight his enemy, not in open field, but to surprise him from 
behind trees, or to steal upon him in the dead of night and 
fall upon his victim with blood-curdling yells. He tortured 
his captives in every way that his animal cruelty could devise ; 
it was not uncommon to bind them to a stake and burn them. 
In his view, war was best brought to a speedy end, and he 
undertook to exterminate his enemy. Often he spared not 

1 In addition to the arts practiced by the Indians as we have known 
them during- our history, it should be recorded that the first Spanish 
explorers discovered in the southwestern parts of North America evi- 
dences of a superior civilization practiced by the ancestors of these Indians, 
or by the people who preceded them on this continent. The ruins of 
villages, the traces of somewhat extensive irrigation works, relics of stone- 
ware and pottery, and even samples of weaving of cotton were found. 
Besides, these earlier people left written characters on a rough paper 
manufactured from some native plant. Whether the tribes who practiced 
these superior arts belonged to the same family as the Indians whom 
the explorers eftcountered, or were a superior people who became extinct, 
is uncertain. 



THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 9 

even women and children, and he measured his prowess by 
the number of scalps or prisoners brought from the contest.^ 
Religion of the Indians. The Indians were intensely re- 
ligious. They believed in spirits — manitous (man'i-toos) — 
who governed the world. They worshiped, also, the sun and 
the stars, the rivers and the mountains. The rustle of the 
leaves, the rolling of the thunder, and the whisper of the 
grasses all revealed to the red man the spirits of another world. 




INDIAN CEREMONIAL SAND-PAINTING ( NAVAJO ) 



Jie believed in evil spirits, too, and to overcome these was the 
duty of his priests or medicine men, who sometimes danced 
about the fire for ten or twelve hours at a time, making hideous 
noises and laboring to exorcise the demons of the air. The 
Indians believed in the future life where the warrior would go 
to the " Happy Hunting Grounds," and there with his dog, 
his bow and arrows, and his tomahawk he would enjoy to the 

^ The Indians seldom if ever practiced their cruelties on the whites 
without provocation, for it must be recorded that many of the early 
explorers, even many of the colonists, in their dealings with the Indians 
practiced deception, and always the tendency of the white man was to 
encroach upon the Indians and possess their lands by fair means or foul. 



lO STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

full all the pleasures, and endure none of the sorrows of this 
life. 

Indian Government. The Indians were loosely banded 
toi^ether into tribes, and many such blood-related tribes would 
make a big family or stock. These tribes held their lands in 
common, for the Indian had no conception of ownership of 
property as the white man understands it. The Indian's per- 
sonal belongings were his own, but all other possessions were 
regarded as common. It is important to remember this fact 
in future recitals of land transactions between the whites and 
the Indians. While some of the settlers in good faith 
" bought " the lands from the Indians, we now understand, 
if the settlers did not then understand, that in the Indian's 
conception of the trade he was granting to the white man 
only the right to occupy the land with him, and in no sense 
meant to part with his own rights to reside within the ter- 
ritory of his fathers. 

The tribe consisted of clans, which were bound together 
by ties of kinship. Each clan had its name — usually that 
of some animal or plant,, which became the emblem or 
" totem " of the group. The totem was sacred to all mem- 
bers of the clan. Some tribes had their totem poles placed 
in the front of their chief's wigwam, and recorded on it in 
crude carving the story of their achievements. Sometimes 
the totem was painted on the sides and roofs of their rude 
houses. Every clan had its sachem or civil ruler, who was 
elected by the members, and at least one war chief who was 
chosen to lead on the field of battle. The sachems and chiefs 
of all the clans of a tribe met in tribal council to consider im- 
portant matters pertaining to the tribe. 

On the whole, while the Indians were savages, they pos- 
sessed many qualities of civilization, and in their undisturbed 
relations they were peaceful and kindly. Indeed, they wel- 
comed the first white men, and were well disposed toward 
the settlers until they found themselves mistreated or threat- 
ened with dispossession. In many respects they were child- 



THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE II 

like ; in other respects they were noble ; it was when the white 
man set up customs that they could not comprehend and 
trespassed upon what they considered their everlasting in- 
heritance that they developed the fury of trapped animals and 
paid injury with cruelty and unfairness with massacre. 
W'hile there is much in the record of our dealings with the 
Indians to be excused on the ground of necessary progress 
in the interest of human development, there is more that 
makes us blush. In truth, the Caucasians, until a recent 
period, were almost as cruel one to another in their zeal of 
religious and political persecution. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What might liave been the effect on discovery and explorations, were 
the Atlantic and Pacific sea-board reversed? 2. Name some plants and 
animals native to North America. 3. Describe the different dwellings of 
the Indians. 4. In what respect may we profit by the Indian idea of 
honor? 5. What Indian tribes figured in the history of your state? To 
what family did they belong? 6. What effect do you think the Indian 
religion had upon his life? What effect had his life upon his religion? 



CHAPTER II 

DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 

In this day of almost universal geographical knowledge it 
sounds a little strange to say that four hundred years ago the 
civilized world knew nothing of the land just descrihed, but 
thought of the earth as consisting of only Europe, Asia, North 




THE KNOWN WORLD IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

Africa, and a few islands of the neighboring seas. Beyond 
these known areas and adjacent waters the oceans stretched 
away into an unknown " Sea of Darkness," which navigators 
feared to penetrate and which the imagination of the ignorant 
peopled with hideous monsters. 

12 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 13 

Trade Relations. For immemorial ages these parts of 
the earth's surface had been in communication with each 
other and had interchanged their products in the ordinary- 
course of commerce. The European used the spices of the 
Indies to make liis food more palatable ; the fine fabrics of 
Cathay (China) and India were in demand for his garments, 
and the gold and precious gems of these far-away lands of 
the East were coveted by monarchs and nobles. The Medi- 
terranean Sea was the great highway of traffic in those days ; 
it was thronged with sailing vessels that brought to Con- 
stantinople, Venice, and Genoa, the commercial centers of 
Europe, cargoes of valuable wares gathered at the western 
ports of Asia from a vast region covered by tedious and peril- 
ous routes of overland transportation. 

But by the close of the fifteenth century Constantinople and 
all southeastern Europe were under the dominion of the 
fanatical and barbarous Turks, who, being Mohammedans, 
despised the Christians; and being warriors, had a contempt 
for traders. They refused to allow the merchants of the 
west to pass through their possessions, and thus cut off from 
Europe the products which for many generations had brought 
wealth to her cities. As a consequence of this interruption of 
traffic, commercial minds of that day began to consider 
whether there might not be found some other route to the 
" land where the spices grow." 

But where was the nation wealthy enough and who were 
the seamen bold enough to undertake such an enterprise? 
Italy had been the great commercial country of the middle 
ages, but she was divided into petty warring states, and 
now, with the trade routes closed, her wealth was diminishing. 
Still, as we shall see, though other nations contriljuted the 
money and the ships for the great enterprise, it was Italy's 
illustrious sons who furnished the greater part of the cour- 
age and knowledge necessary for the momentous undertaking. 
Germany, too, consisted of a number of little states, almost 
constantly engaged in civil strife, brance and England had 



14 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

been at war with each other for a century, and each had l)ccn 
involved in domestic broils. The Scandinavian countries had 
been wasted by internal disorder/ Holland at this time was 
under the dominion of Spain, and the latter had been engaged 
for centuries in expelling the Moors from her borders. Thus 
the countries of Europe were ill prepared for the work of dis- 
covery. The first to take up the great task of finding a new 
way to India was the little kingdom of Portugal. 

Prince Henry. An illustrious prince of that country, known 
as " Prince Henry the Navigator," " first set himself seriously 
to the opening of a new trade route to India, and his efforts 
were directed toward the south and east around Africa. Grad- 
ually his hardy mariners, emboldened by the faithful needle," 
gained more and more courage as they pushed farther down 
the African coast and found neither fiery zone nor boiling seas 
filled with devouring monsters. Prince Henry's work resulted 
not simply in dispelling many mediaeval superstitions and in 
developing hardy and competent seamen, but his conception of 
the land formation of Africa was verified in the voyage of 
Vasco da Gama (vas'ko da ga'ma) around the southern cape 
in 1498 long after the death of the Portuguese Navigator. 

Marco Polo. Years before the efiforts of Portugal re- 
vealed somewhat the size and shape of Africa, Europe was 
obtaining more comprehensive and more nearly accurate 
knowledge of the Far East from travelers, the best known of 
whom in that period was Marco Polo (mar'ko poTo), a wealthy 
merchant of Venice, who went as far east as China. The 
journey covered many years, and an old chronicle tells us that 

^ The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The 
old inhabitants of these lands are called Northmen or Norsemen. The 
people were bold sea rovers, searching ever for new fields of adventure 
and plunder. They reached Greenland and Iceland in the ninth and tenth 
centuries, and in the year 1000 A. D. Leif Ericson, with a small crew, 
reached the coast of North America, sailing from Labrador to the south- 
ward. He called the land Vinland (or Vine Land). These primitive 
visitors to North America left no trace of their discoveries and nothing 
came of the adventure. 

- Prince Henry lived from 1394 to 1460. 

3 The mariner's compass had just come into use. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



^b 



when he reached home he took the profits of his trip from the 
seams of his clothes in the form of rubies, sapphires, carbuncles, 
emeralds, and d i a - 
monds. Marco Polo 
wrote an account of 
his travels, and as 
printing" was invented 
soon afterwards the 
circulation of the book 
w a s comparatively 
easy. The chronicle 
told of the fabulous 
wealth of the East, of 
streams filled with 
gold, of towered cit- 
ies, and busy harbors 
on the far-away ocean 
of Asia, where hun- 
dreds of ships laden 
with precious wares 
of the Orient came 
and went each year. 

Revival of Learning. These adventures and discoveries 
came with the awakening of mankind from the darkness of the 
Middle Ages, and were a part of that revival of learning known 
to history and literature as the Renascence (re-nas'srns). 
There had been a long period of ignorance and superstition, 
from which at length the people of the Old World were 
aroused as if by an intellectual resurrection.^ This was the 
time when printing was invented and gunpowder came into 
use. 

By the fifteenth century scholars generally accepted the 
theory that the earth is not flat, as the ancients believed, but 

1 It is now understood that the Middle Ages had been by no means so 
barren of intellectual activity and progress as was once supposed; but it 
is nevertheless true that a wonderful stir of new life was at this time 
being felt in Europe. 




MARIO POLO 



i6 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



spherical in shape. Marco Polo had seen a vast ocean east 
of India; there was a vast ocean west of Europe, and geogra- 
phers reached the opinion that they were one and the same. 
If that were so, then the Indies, they concluded, could be 
reached by sailing westward. Little did these geographers 
dream that two oceans and great continents lay between Eu- 
rope and Asia, and many years elapsed even after the voyages 
of discovery had been made before the world realized the 
greatness of its inheritance. 

Christopher Columbus. Europe was astir with the question 
of a new trade route to India, and while navigators specu- 
lated and pondered there was 
one man who dared to act. 
This man, Christopher Colum- 
bus, was the son of a poor wool 
weaver in Genoa, and there in 
that beautiful Italian city the 
great navigator was born about 
the year 1446. He early took 
to the sea and showed great ap- 
titude for geography and nau- 
^^ tical science, w'hich became his 
lifelong studies. His first voy- 
age began, when he was four- 
teen, with the captains of 
Prince Henry the Navigator, 
and at twenty-one he was rated 
as a skilled mariner. About 
1470 he took up his residence at Lisbon, Portugal, the land of 
Prince Henry, and here for a time he worked as a maker of 
maps and made an occasional voyage. 

It was in Portugal that Columbus conceived the great plan 
which henceforth was to be the work of his life. With other 
advanced thinkers of his day he believed he could reach the 
Indies by sailing westward and he resolved to accomplisli the 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



17 



task, but he lacked the means for an enterprise so ambitious. 
Therefore, he sought the aid of the various sovereigns of 
Europe. He appealed first to Portugal, but that nation was 
hopeful of finding a route around Africa, and Columbus failed 
to command a hearing from the Portuguese government. 
Then he submitted the project to Ferdinand and Isabella, the 
sovereigns of Spain, and about the same time sent his brother 
Bartholomew to ap- 
peal to the king of 
England. Ferdinand 
and Isabella were 
little impressed by 
the representations 
of one whom they 
regarded as a 
dreamer, and gave 
him slight attention. 
From Spain he 
turned to France and 
set upon his weary 
way on foot. Stop- 
ping at a convent to beg for food and water for himself and his 
child, he told his story to the kindly abbot, who appreciated 
the undertaking and immediately became his advocate before 
Ferdinand and Isabella. The eloquent priest moved the queen 
as Columbus had been unable to do. She was converted to the 
project and, assisted by powerful friends, defrayed the ex- 
penses of the voyage. 

In the harbor of Palos (pii'los), a little town of South- 
western Spain, the fleet of three small ships, the Scmfa Maria 
(siin'ta ma-re'a), the Piufa (pccn'ta), and the Niua (neen'ya) 
lay riding at anchor in the early dawn of August 3, 1492. 
This was the equipment furnished by the Queen of Spain for 
the great enterprise. Under a contract, Columbus, who was 
made high admiral, was to enjoy a share of all the profits of the 




THE CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS AS REPRODUCED FOR 
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION AT CHICAGO. 



i8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

undertaking. A motley crew/ about one hundred and twenty 
souls, had been gathered together, and two experienced seamen, 
the Pinzon brothers, were engaged to command the Piiita and 
the Nina, while the Santa Maria was the flagship under com- 
mand of the admiral himself. At last the little fleet set sail 
and left behind a weeping and wailing company of relatives 
and friends who feared they were taking their last look at the 
daring voyagers venturing upon a sea of terrors. 

Columbus directed his course southwest to the Canaries, 
where he tarried a few weeks ; and then, at the close of the first 
week in September, he plunged, with his three small ships, 
nearly due westward into the mysteries of the uncharted waste 
of waters. All went well at the starting, but as the voy- 
age stretched into weeks the strain of anxiety taxed the 
skeptical crew to the utmost. Soon there was a secret mur- 
muring, and then open grumbling, and finally the sailors 
threatened to throw the admiral overboard and turn back. 
But Columbus, never daunted, now coaxed, now threatened, 
now appealed to the avarice of his men with promises of great 
wealth and glory in store for them. Nevertheless, Columbus 
himself was considerably puzzled, though his faith in the un- 
dertaking never faltered. He kept two records of his voyage, 
a false one for the crew and a true one for himself, and the 
true record showed that he had traveled 2.700 miles and still 
there was no land in sight nor sign of land. 

Land Discovered. Changing his course slightly the ad- 
miral steered to the southwest, and on October 1 1 he ob- 
served unmistakable signs of land; birds known to live only 
on land circled around the ships, green twigs and weeds floated 
on the water, and a piece of rudely carved wood was picked up. 
On the same night Columbus saw a faint light in the distance 
moving to and fro, and in the morning to his unspeakable joy 
a low-lying shore was disclosed to his gaze. Soon after day- 

1 Many of the crew were convicts who had been released on the con- 
dition that they embark upon this voyage. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



19 



break the crew cast anchor, and the admiral, richly garbed and 
bearing the royal banner of Spain, put out to the shore in a 
small boat accompanied by the Pinzons and a few others. 
Columbus leaped upon the land and falling ui)on his knees 
thanked God that the 
desire of his heart 
was at last realized, 
for, as he belie\'ed, a 
new way had been 
found to India. In 
the name of the 
Most High and of 
his gracious sover- 
eigns of Spain, he 
took possession of 
the land, which he 
called San Salvador 
(siin sal'va-dor') — 
Holy Sa^•ior.^ 

He had not 
reached India as he 
thought, but had 
come upon one of 
the islands of the Bahama (ba-hcVma) group, probably Wat- 
ling Island; the natives called it Guanahani (gwa-nii-ha'ni). 
These copper-hued people, whom Columbus called Indians, 
came flocking to the beach at the sight of the strange vessels, 
which they thought to be gigantic white-winged birds, and 
gave reverential welcome to the visitors, who they thought 
were messengers or brothers from celestial spheres. 

From San Salvador Columbus sailed southward whither the 
natives had indicated he might find gold. He discovered 
Cuba and Hayti, and then i)reparcd for the return voyage. 
He carried back with him several of the natives and some of 




LANDING OF COLUMBUS 



1 See Joaquin Miller's poem Columbus. 



20 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the products of the new lands. The return passage was 
stormy and the httle Nina, now his only vessel, plowed her 
way back through the threatening sea, carrying a company 
filled with rejoicing/ Columbus feared at one time that the 
little ship would surely be lost, and he prepared two records 
of his achievements. One of these he sealed in a cask bear- 
ing the arms and names of the sovereigns of Spain ; this he 
consigned to the waves, hoping it might reach Spain, but the 
brave' little boat weathered the storms and at last anchored in 
the harbor of Palos. 

The people of Spain welcomed the victorious voyagers with 
great acclaim, and gave themselves over to a long, joyous holi- 
day in honor of the great man who " loosed the barriers of the 
ocean " for Spain. The king and queen heaped many honors 
upon Columbus and throughout the civilized world his achieve- 
ment became the topic of greatest interest. 

Other Voyages of Columbus. During the happy days 
which followed, the admiral was preparing for another voyage. 

In all he made four 
journeys to the New 
World and discov- 
ered the chief islands 
of the .West Indies, 
the northern coast 
of South America, 
and Honduras in 
Central America. 
But Columbus took 
back to Spain neither 
gold, nor spices, nor the precious gems of the Orient. Besides, 
he proved himself to be an incapable executive and made many 
mistakes in the administration of his enterprises. His exploits 
excited the envy of other men who magnified his shortcomings 
and poisoned the minds of the king and queen against him. 

^ The Santa Maria had run aground, and Pinzon, with the Pinta, had 
become separated from the Nina. 




COUNTRY DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



21 



Brought back from his third voyage in chains as a prisoner and 
returning from his last without the material success which his 
covetous monarchs desired, he was finally deserted Ijy all but 
his immediate family and died at Valladolid ( varya-thrj-leth), 
May 20, 1506, in poverty and obscurity. His firm belief 
to the day of his death was 
that he had reached the east- 
ern coast of Asia and had 
opened a new trade route to 
the Indies, but his error in 
nowise lessens the glory of 
his achievement and his tragic 
end demonstrates the lack of 
appreciation which the world 
too often shows with re- 
spect to many of its daring- 
souls. 

America Named. After 
Columbus had shown the way 
others were quick to make 
voyages across the western 
sea in search of wealth and in 
hope of concpiest. Among 
these was Americus Vespu- 
cius, an Italian, living, like 
C<jlumbus, in Spain, who is known to have made three voyages 
to the South American coasts. Vespucius published an ac- 
count of what he had seen, and descriljcd a strange new world 
to the south of the Indies. His account fell into the hands 
of a German geographer who suggested that the new world be 
named "America" in his honor.^ It was still believed tliat 
the lands of the north were islands lying off the coast of Asia 
and the (lisco\'ery of Vespucius was supposed to be a new 

^ In July, 191 1, there was a celebration at the little town of St. Die in 
I France, commemorating the formal bestowal on the New World of tlic 
I name of " America " by the German geographer Martin Waldseemiillcr 
] (walt'za-miil-ler). 




AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 



22 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



world. Balboa (biil-bo'a) and Magellan (ma-jeran) had yet 
to prove that not only a new world had been discovered but 
that another ocean vaster tlian the Atlantic lay between Eu- 
rope and the Indies of the East. 

John Cabot. Neither Columbus nor Vespucius was the 
first to discover North America; that honor belongs to still 

another son of Italy — John 
Cabot, who sailed under the 
English flag-. When the news 
reached England that Colum- 
bus had succeeded in his en- 
terprise, the king regretted 
having- turned a deaf ear to 
|>\ Bartholomew, the brother of 
Columbus, and readily grant- 
ed to Cabot a permit to dis- 
cover lands in the west. In 
1497 Cabot reached the North 
American coast and landed 
somewhere in Labrador. The 
voyagers soon returned, but 
carried back with them neither 
gold nor spices. Many years later, when the world came to 
know that a new continent had been found, England laid claim 
to the whole of North America by virtue of Cabot's discovery.^ 
Balboa and Magellan. We must remember that the pri- 
mary aim of Europe was not to discover a new continent, but 
a route to the "land of the spices"; hence, most of the ex- 
plorers endeavored to pass through or go around these new- 
found lands of the sea, which were supposed to be islands 
lying off the coast of Asia. As a consequence of this chief 
purpose, there were many persevering explorations of the 
coast line and river mouths, which led to the discovery of that 
great ocean to the west, and, finally, to the demonstration of 

1 In the notebook of the penurious King Henry VII of England, we 
find this entry, " 10, Aug. 1497. To him that found the new isle £10." 




JOHN CABOT 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



23 



the real physical form of the New World. Balboa, a Spaniard, 
was the hrst to view the great ocean west of America, which 
we now know as the Pacific. Hunting pearls and gold he 
reached the Isthmus of Panama, as it lies nearly east and west, 
and pushing from the northward to the southward, he ascended 
the mountains, and there, in 15 13, from a peak in Darien, be- 
held the great expanse of the new ocean which he called the 
South Sea. But not until 15 19 did the Spanish venture upon 
this new water. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in the 
service of Spain, 
still believed that 
a shorter route 
could be found 
tf) the Indies 
than that which 
Vasco de Gama 
had traversed 
around Africa in 
1498. In a dar- 
ing voyage Ma- 
gellan followed 
the coast line of 
South America 
to the south, 
passed through 
the straits that 
now bear his 
name, and 
pressed onward 
into the great 

placid ocean, Balboa's South Sea, which he called the Pacific. 
Still pushing westward he discovered the Philippine Islands, 
where he was killed in a fight with the natives, and the rem- 
nant of his crew, in one remaining vessel, reached Spain in 
1522. This was the first circumnavigation of the globe, and 
the first complete physical demonstration of its shape. 




FERDINAND MAGELLAN 



24 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



The Spaniards in the South. The Spaniards early made 
settlements in the West Indies, but finding no gold there they 
used these islands as a base of operation for further explora- 
tions westward. During the first half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury these adventurers had penetrated to the north and west 




ROUTES OF VOYAGERS AND DISCOVERERS 



and to the south over an area greater by far than the whole 
of Europe. Ponce de Leon (pon'tha da la-on') explored 
northward in search of a fabled land where the natives told 
him he would find a wonderful " Fountain of Perpetual 
Youth." Ponce de Leon reached land Easter Sunday, 15 13, 
and named it Florida, or the Land of Easter. He lost his life 
in a fight with the Lidians while wandering through the forests 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



25 



in a fruitless search for the magical fountain that was to re- 
store youth to the aged and life to the dying. ^ 

Hernando Cortez (her-nan-do kor'tez) at about the same 
time conquered Mexico, '' the 
land of the Montezumas," 
with its cities, temples, and 
palaces, and at last added to 
the dominion of Spain this 
province of great wealth in 
gold and other minerals. His 
success inspired others to ex- 
plore northern, southern, and 
western lands in search of 
fame and fortune. One ex- , 
pedition under Narvaez (nar- 
va'eth), lured by reports of 
gold and towered cities among 
the Indians along the Gulf 
Coast, came to a disastrous hernando cortez 

end. Some of the adventurers were ship-wrecked and others 
were killed by hostile Indians. One of the survivors, Cabeza 
de Vaca (ka-ba'sa da va'ka), landed on the Texas coast and 
spent six years wandering among the natives.^ 

Equally disastrous was an expedition by De Soto, another 
Spanish adventurer who sought wealth in the new world. He 
marched northward from Florida as far as South Carolina 
and thence westward into Tennessee, where from the bluffs 
he beheld the Mississippi, the great " Father of Waters," 
majestically rolling to the sea. De Soto crossed this river 
and proceeded onward in search of treasure, but he found 
nothing but ])rimcval forests and liostilc Indians. At last, 
worn out with the hopelessness of it all and sick with a wa.st- 

1 Easter is called in Spanish Pasciia dc Florida (Pas-c66'a de Flor-e'da) 
— festival of flowers. 

2 He was perhaps the first white man to set font on Texas soil. Cabeza 
de Vaca at length reached the Spanish settlements in northern Mexico. 




26 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



ing fever. De Soto died and his body was sunk in the waters 
of the Mississippi. 

Within a day's journey of De' Soto's route was another 
Spanish explorer, Coronado ( ko-ro-nii'do), who, having heard 
the stories of Cabeza de Vaca, set out from Northern Mexico 
in search of gold and the far-famed " Seven Cities of Cibola 
(se'bo-la)." He went as far as wdiat is now Kansas and 




ROUTES OF SPANISH EXPLORERS 

found nothing of value or interest except Indian villages, 
broad prairies, and huge " crooked-back cows " or buffaloes, 

St. Augustine and the French. The failure of these ex- 
plorers to discover gold or other treasure caused the Spaniards 
to lose interest in what is now the southern part of the United 
States, and thereafter to center their attention on the mineral 
wealth of Mexico and Peru. Spain finally established St. 
Augustine in 1565 on the eastern coast of Florida, but this 
was due to the encroachments of France who endangered 
Spanish settlements in the west and imperiled the passage of 
Spanish treasure ships from Mexico through the Gulf. 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 



27 



During this period of discovery and exploration the chief 
energies of France were employed either in foreign warfare 
or in quieting internal strife. Nevertheless, the French sea- 
men made some discoveries and after many unsuccessful at- 
tempts founded a settlement in America. Verrazano (ver-ril- 
tsa'no), a native of Florence, was sent out in 1524 to find 
a passage to China. He explored the Atlantic coast and en- 
tered New York harbor. Ten years later Jacques Cartier 





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DE SOTO AND HIS MEK AT THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 



(zhiik kai"'tya') set out on a similar mission. He explored 
the region around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sailed up the 
river of that name, under the imi)ression that he had found a 
direct passage to China, but was disappointed when he en- 
countered the rapids to which he gave the name of Lachine 
(which means Chinese). No permanent settlement resulted 
from this adventure. 

Tlie French Protestants, or Huguenots, who were persecuted 
at home, sought for themselves, in 1562, a refuge on this side 
of the Atlantic. They made two settlements — Port Royal 



28 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



(South Carolina), and Fort Carolina at tlic month of the St. 
John River in Moritla. This region was named Carolina 

for their new king, 
Charles IX of 
France.^ The Span- 
iards regarded this 
settlement as a men- 
ace to their interests 
in the new world 
and sent Menendez 
(ma-nen''deth) to de- 
stroy the colony. 
This he did in the 
most cold-hlooded 
fashion, making a 
slaughter that would 
have shamed the 
most savage Indians, 
and St. Augustine 
was estahlished to 
resist further encroachments by the iM-ench. Not until the be- 
ginning of the next century did hTance again take up the work 
of settlement in the New World, and then she directed her 
energies to the region around the Great Takes. 

English Navigators. By the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury Fnglish naxigators were venturing more boldly into the 
trade of the world, and Great Britain began to lay the founda- 
tion for her supremacy on the sea and in the lands beyond. 
Bold Fnglish seamen, animated by hatred of Spain, deep 
rooted in commercial rivalry and religious antagonism, lay in 
wait for her treasure ships and without hesitation confiscated 
them. 

Following J(ihn Hawkins, a daring Fnglish navigator, 
who from 1562 to 1567 was engaged in securing negroes 
from Africa and selling them as slaves to the Spaniards in 

1 Carolina is derived from Carolus, the Latin word for Charles, 




OLD SPANISH GATEWAY AT ST. AUGUSTINE 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORy\TTONS 



29 




the West Indies, there came, later, ui)on the scene of sea ex- 
ploits Sir P^rancis Drake who had heen associated with Haw- 
kins. In 1577 Drake set out with a Beet of five vessels, re- 
solved to gain wealth and fame. 
Sailing to the southwest around 
Cape Horn and moving up the 
Pacific Coast, he captured rich 
treasure ships, then proceeding 
northward discovered San h^ran- 
cisco Bay and took possession of 
the neighboring land for " Good >V 
Queen Bess," as Elizabeth was 
affectionately called. 

Continuing westward, he ^ v , ^'V 4 "s ^''^'1^(V'' 
reached luigland again by the ^ ^^/^k v'^'' )^^^^'\ 

Cape of Good Hope. In this 
journey Drake com])lcled, in 
1580, the second circumnaviga- 
tion (jf the globe. By reason of 
his exi)loits and his fierce attacks 
on the Spaniards then and later, the name of tlie " Dragon," 
as Drake was called, for many years afterwards struck terror 
to the Spanish heart. 

The Northwest Passage. England, too, was searching for 
the trade route to India, and her mariners were trying to reach 
the East by the northwest passage. Such was the idea of 
Martin Erobisher ( frol/ish-er ) in sailing the waters known 
as Erobisher's Bay. Davis and Baffin made voyages for the 
same purpose and so did Henry Hudson, wlio was set adrift in 
the Arctic waters by a mutinous crew In the course of time 
the search for a northwest ])assage to China was abandoned 
because true knowledge oi the geography of the western world 
rendered such a passage of no practical value. 

Gilbert and Raleigh. Vnr greater than voyages to the icy 
n(jrth was the task of founding colonies across the sea. This 
was the work first conceived by Sir Humphrey Gilbert and 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 



30 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




later developed by his abler half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
two farseeing and courageous Englishmen.-^ 

In 1583 Gilbert made an unsuccessful attempt to establish 
a colony on the bleak shores of Newfoundland; later many 

of the colonists were lost in 
mid-ocean on the return voyage. 
Sir Walter Raleigh took up the 
work which Gilbert had inaugu- 
rated, but instead of venturing 
into the wintry north he directed 
his attention to the milder lati- 
tudes of Chesapeake Bav, a beau- 
tiful region which Queen Eliza- 
beth caused to be named Vir- 
ginia ^ in honor of herself, the 
" Virgin Queen," as she de- 
lighted to be called. In 158^ a 
group of one hundred colonists 
under Raleigh's patronage landed 
on Roanoke Island, the southernmost of the reefs enclosing 
Albemarle Sound, and immediately they started to search for 
gold and precious gems. Like others who had attempted 
the same quest they found none ; and, disappointed and home- 
sick, they at last returned to England.^ 

1 Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the greatest Englishmen of his time; 
he was a courtier, poet, historian, cavalier, and statesman. He was born 
in 1562, and from the time he reached manhood until his death his life 
was one of great activity and adventure. It is said that he first won the 
favor of Queen Elizabeth when he was yet a mere youth by spreading his 
coat across a muddy pathway for her to walk upon. He commanded one 
of the vessels in the English fleet in the memorable battle with the Spanish 
Armada. After the death of his queen he lost favor at court and was im- 
prisoned in the Tower on an unproved charge of treason. In 1618 he was 
beheaded for a political offense. 

- The term " Virginia " in that day applied to a much more extensive 
region than is comprised within the present state of that name. 

^ Drake, who was exploring the coast in search of Spanish treasure 
ships, picked up the colonists and took them back to England. They car- 
ried tobacco, which Raleigh introduced into England, and the Irish potato, 
which is a native of America, but took its name in commerce by reason 
of the fact that it became a staple crop of Ireland. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 3^ 

Raleigh's second colonial adventure was even more disas- 
trous than the first. In 1587 another little band was sent 
to the Carolina coast with John White as leader. A few days 
after the landing Virginia Dare, White's grandchild, was born, 
the first English child born in the New World. Governor 
White went back to England to secure aid for his struggling 
colony, but events there prevented his return until 1591. 

The Armada. For many years preceding this period Spain 
had been the dominant power of Europe and was absolute 
mistress of the seas until a new generation of English seamen 
ventured to challenge her supremacy. Smarting under the 
victories of Drake and others and fearing the absolute loss of 
her power on the sea, Spain thought to deliver a blow which 
would put an end to England's aspirations. Accordingly, 
in 1588, she fitted out the great fleet known as the Ar- 
mada (ar-ma'da) and undertook to land 30,000 soldiers on 
the shores of England and overrun the country. England 
hastily assembled a fleet of small vessels under Lord Howard 
and Sir Francis Drake and gave battle in the English Channel. 
The English were the better sailors and fought under better of- 
ficers ; they routed and dispersed the Armada in great disorder, 
and drove the invaders back to Spain with only fifty-four out of 
one hundred and thirty vessels and 10,000 out of 30,000 men. 
This victory, which wrested the power of the sea from Spain 
and gave it to England, emboldened the English to proceed 
rapidly and systematically with other colonies in the New 
World. 

It was the battle of the Armada and the attending circum- 
stances that prevented Governor White from promptly return- 
ing to his little colony on the Carolina coast. When he arrived, 
in 1 59 1, he found nothing but the deserted settlement and a 
mysterious inscription C-R-O-A-T-O-A-N on the trunk of 
one of the trees. The meaning of the inscription was not 
known and never again could there be found any trace of the 
lost colony. 

The English Spirit. In spite of these failures Sir Walter 



32 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Raleigh never lost heart in his purpose to make Virginia a 
transplanted English state. Perhaps he was the first to con- 
ceive the idea of setting up in the New World communities 
of industry and development. It was the English alone of 
the Europeans who undertook to establish self-supporting and 
self-sufficient settlements. Other ventures of colonization 
were designed chiefly for purposes of treasure seeking and con- 
quest. It was in this spirit and for this reason that English 
settlements became stable and that English civilization ulti- 
mately possessed the New World. 

European Claims to America. The sixteenth century came 
to a close with three nations, Spain, France, and England, 
attempting" to colonize America - — all having practically failed. 
Spain, however, in addition to her possessions in Mexico and 
Peru, had a weak post at St. Augustine, in Florida, and an- 
other in the far west, at Santa Fe. In the new century just 
dawning we find France and England again taking up the work 

of colonization with promising 
success; but while Spain grew 
weaker, with no new achievements, 
she managed to maintain her hold 
in the south for many years. 

The French did not gain a per- 
manent foothold in America until 
the early part of the seventeentii 
century, when they established 
settlements in the region of the 
St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. 
After the tragic fate of the Hugue- 
nots in South Carolina the French 
directed their attention northward 
and in 1605 they made a firm 
establishment in the region of the St. Lawrence. Champlain, 
the " Father of New France," made a permanent settlement in 
Quebec in 1608 and from there led a successful invasion south- 
ward against the hostile Iroquois Indians. The next year he 




SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS 33 

discovered the lake that hears his name. With the ad\cn- 
turous French traders were many zealous French priests, the 
former stimulated l)y a desire for gain and the latter inspired 
with missionary zeal, and the success of the French settlements 
was due as much to the priests as to the traders and conquer- 
ors. In this way France laid the foundation for what gave 
promise of being a large and lasting dominion in North 
America. 

Into the middle portion of the New World, between the 
Spanish on the south and the French on the north, came the 
people of England again, and this time they came to stay; they 
had resolved upon permanent colonization and development. 
A little later the Dutch and Swedes also came into this portion 
of the country, and the upbuilding of the territory lying be- 
tween the French and the Spanish constitutes the chief theme 
of our history. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What great wars did the Mohammedans cause, and why did they 
cause them ? 2. Explain wliy, at this time, Italy should furnish so many 
intelligent men? 3. Why should the Portuguese be such hardy mariners? 
4. Who invented printing? Describe the first press. 5. Did Columbus 
originate the idea that the world is round? What did intelligent men 
generally believe? 6. What important event in Spanish History occurred 
in 1492? How did this effect Spain's career in America? 7. Why did 
Columbus keep two records? 8. Where was Columbus buried? Were his 
remains ever moved? 9. What American author has written the life of 
Columbus? 10. What animated the Spanish explorers? 11. Name several 
Italian explorers. Why did they sail under foreign flags ? 12. Why was 
England so slow in exploring and settling the new world? 13. Who were 
the Huguenots? Why so called? 14. What animated the English "Sea 
Dogs"? 15. What plants were introduced into Europe from America? 
16. What qualities in the English gave promise tliat they would finally out- 
strip others in possession of America? 

SOURCE MATERIAL 

General P.eferences :. Brigham, Geographic Influences ; Scmple, Geo- 
graphic Conditions ; Shaler, Story of Our Contiiuiit; Farrand, Basis of 



34 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

American History; Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation; Cheyney, European 
Background of American History; Bourne, Spain in America; Fiske, Dis- 
covery of America; Brooks, The Story of Marco Polo; Irving, Life of 
Columbus; Channing, A Student's History of the United States; Wilson, 
History of the American People, I; Hart, Essentials in American History; 
Thwaite's, France in America; Tyler, England in America; Drake, Indian 
History for Young Folks; Creasy, Fifteen Decisive Battles; Larned, His- 
tory for Ready Reference ; Cyclopedias; Starr, American Indians. 



Sources and Other Re.\dings: Longfellow, Hiatvatha; Bolton and 
Barker, With the Makers of Texas; Hart, 5"our<r^ Reader; Longfellow, 
Skeleton in Armor, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and Discoverer of the North 
Cape; Kingsley, Westward Ho!; Kirk ]\Iunroe, Flamingo Feather; Pres- 
cott. Return of Columbus; Lowell, Columbus and Voyage to I'inland; 
Sidney Lanier, The Triumph from Psalm of the West; Henty, Under 
Drake's Flag; Christian Reid, Ascent of Mt. Mitchell; Hart, American 
History as Told by Contonporaries. 4 vols. (For teachers.) 



Pictures: Bierstadt, Rocky Mountains; George Inness, Georgia Pines 
and Delaware J^alley; Brozik, Columbus at the Court of Isabella; Indian 
pictures by Remington also by Couse and Taylor. 



PERIOD [I.— COLOXTZATIOX 

1 588-1 760 

CHAPTER III 

CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 

We have seen that the first attempt at English settlement 
in America began in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This was 
the period of England's greatest achievements. It was the 
time of Sir Francis Bacon with his philosophy, Edmund Spen- 
ser, the great poet, and William Shakespeare, the great drama- 
tist. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth, James I came 
to the throne and was in turn succeeded by his son Charles. 
These two monarchs were far inferior to the brilliant Elizabeth, 
and under their administration the English government became 
a petty political and religious tyranny which persecuted those 
who would not conform to the worship of the establislied 
church. Oliver Cromwell was the leader of a successful revo- 
lution and, after causing Charles to be beheaded, was made the 
" Protector of the Commonwealth." He was the advocate 
and the exponent of that religious freedom espoused and de- 
veloped by the Puritans in opposition to the ceremonies and 
civil powers of the Church of England. This was a momen- 
tous period not only in our own history but in the history of 
the world, for out of all this strife came the spirit of religious 
freedom and civil liberty that made England an empire of free- 
men and America a self-governing republic. 

Trading Companies. The experience of Raleigh seemed to 
prove that the work of colonization in America was too large 
an undertaking for a single individual and henceforward 
settlements were promoted by combined effort. For this pur- 
pose two trading companies were chartered by King James, 

35 



36 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



and Virginia, the name given to all the eastern part of North 
America from Carolina to Nova Scotia, was divided between 
them. The southern part was granted to the London Com- 
pany, so called because its meetings were held in that town; 
the northern part to the Plymouth Company, which held its 
meetings in the town of that name.^ The two companies were 




CROWN GRANTS TO TRADING COMPANIES 

to govern their respective colonies by means of a royal council 
in England which appointed a resident council for the colonies. 
All the property of the settlers of each company was to be held 
in " joint stock," which meant that no one was to have any 

1 The London Company's grant extended from the 34° to the 41°, and 
the Plymouth Company's grant from the 38° to the 45° north latitude. 
The company which first made settlement in the overlapping strip was 
to be entitled to the land therein. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 37 

land of his own but all the members of the colony were to work 
together and put what they made into a common storehouse 
from which they were to be clothed and fed. 

The companies being formed, both set out to make prepara- 
tions for founding settlements in America. The Plymouth 
Company succeeded in getting its colony to America first, and 
a little settlement was made on the banks of the Kennebec ; 
but the attempt was a failure, and to the London Company be- 
longs the honor of establishing the first permanent English 
colony in America. 

Jamestown. In December, 1606, the Susan Constant and 
two other small vessels commanded by Christopher Newport 
set sail with a small company for the New World. In April, 
1607, these colonists reached the capes of Virginia, which they 
named respectively Henry and Charles after the two sons of 
their sovereign. Passing on into Chesapeake Bay, they were 
driven by a storm westward into Hampton Roads, and sailed 
up the broad river which discharges its waters there. This 
river was called the James, in honor of their " dread lord and 
king." The country toward which they passed seemed to be 
a veritable fairyland. By this time it was the month of May, 
and the pink and white blossoms nestling close to the water's 
edge together with the dark primeval forests beyond made an 
enchanting picture for the sea-weary voyagers. 

At last the colonists chose a place of settlement on the little 
peninsula connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus 
(long since worn away), thirty-two miles from the river's 
mouth, to which they gave the name of Jamestown, again 
honoring their king; and here, on May 14, 1607, they landed 
and began to lay out their town site. 

On their first night in the New World they had an uncom- 
fortable introduction to the Indians, who, creeping from the 
hills and hiding behind trees, shot their poison-tipped arrows 
at the little company; but the sound of the English guns and 
the sting of the bullets quickly drove the savages back into the 
forests. 




NORTH 



rrrrpoATTs^NGjR co. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 



39 




The colonists were in high spirits. Soon a few small cabins 
were erected, while some of the settlers found dwelling places 
by digging caves 
in the ground. 
For a church 
they nailed a 
board between 
two trees and 
stretched a can- 
vas over it, and 
in this rude tem- 
ple of the wilds 
they held their 
first church serv- 
ices. 

The colonists 
at Jamestown 
were ill prepared 
for the task of 
settlement. More than fifty were without a trade; moved 
by the desire to get rich quick they lacked the patience and 
perseverance to undertake the long, arduous task of building 
up and maintaining a community of industry. There were, 
however, a few men of superior character; twelve were arti- 
sans. But there was little incentive to personal effort, because 
everything the individual accomplished became a part of the 
common stock. 

Troubles began early. On account of the long voyage sup- 
plies were running low ; the peninsula was marshy and ma- 
larial, and infested with mosquitos. The colonists arrived 
so late in the season that seed time was nearly passed. Instead 
of planting corn for subsistence, the settlers planted oranges, 
melons, and cotton; many of them gave themselves to hunting, 
to the search for gold, and to looking for a passage to the South 
Sea. Soon the rations were reduced to a pint of worm-eaten 
barley a day, and on account of the poor food and the bad 



BUILDING A FORT AT JAMESTOWN 



40 



STUDENTS HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



water many fell ill with fever. Sometimes in a night three 
or four persons died, and before six months had passed half 
the colony had found graves in the wilderness. There was 
also a perpetual fear of the Indians and it was necessary for 
each man to stand watch every third night. At times there 
were not as many as five men able to bear arms, and the living 
could hardly bury the dead. 

Captain John Smith. Adversities and trials often develop 
_,=^ ^ noble men for emergencies, and hap- 

"^"^^.^ pily for Virginia there was one re- 

sourceful person in the little com- 
pany at Jamestown. This was Cap- 
tain John Smith, whose courage and 
activity kept the colony alive until 
fresh supplies could come from 
England. As governor -he forced 
the lazy and shiftless to go to work; 
corn was planted, fortifications were 
repaired, and the men were drilled 
in arms to protect the settlement 
from the hostile Indians. Smith 
himself explored the rivers and bays, 
became familiar with the country 
and the natives, ventured into the Indian villages and drove 
sharp bargains for corn and other supplies. 

Captain John Smith was a veritable knight errant, whose 
life had been a succession of adventures,^ and here in America 
he experienced the crowning romance of his life, as he relates 
it, and in some degree it is probably true, although it is not 

1 The story of Captain John Smith's life is a marvelous tale. In his 
youth he had visited many strange lands. Wars against the Turks, en- 
counters with pirates, shipwrecks, fierce hand to hand combats — all these 
were numbered among his adventures. At the age of twenty-eight, re- 
turning from some undertaking abroad, he learned of the Virginia enter- 
prise and was attracted to it by its difficulties and dangers. After he 
returned to England, in 1609, he sailed to the New England coast and first 
gave its name to that region. He explored and charted the coasts care- 
fully and accurately. He wrote several books on America. 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 



41 



quite authentic. On one of his expeditions among the Indians 
to obtain corn he was captured and was taken before Pow- 
hatan, the most powerful chief of that section, who con- 
demned him to die. Smith's head was placed on the block and 
the executioners stood ready to beat out his brains, when 
Pocahontas, the chief's young daughter, ran up and laid her 
head upon his and begged 
for his life.^ He was for- 
mally adopted as a member 
of the Indian tribe, though 
he was permitted to enjoy 
his freedom and returned to 
the colony.^ When Smith 
returned to Jamestown after 
this adventure his enemies 
had gained the ascendency in 
public opinion and with the 
officers of the London Com- 
pany, and he was arrested 
and sent to prison; but he 
was soon released and then 
went back to London. 

The Starving Time. In 
the absence of a strong executive and leader like Smith, the 
colonists again fell into careless ways and suffered many dis- 
asters. There was no one to maintain trade with the Indians, 
and a period of terrible suffering, known as the " starving 
time," followed. The spring of 1609 found the last supplies 
of food exhausted and before long famine claimed its victims. 
The colonists were compelled to eat dogs, rats, mice, adders — 

1 Pocahontas was a girl about ten years old at the time. She was good- 
natured and kind and had a warm friendship for Smith. Later she often 
carried food to the starving settlers at Jamestown. A young Englishman, 
John Rolfe, married Pocahontas and took her to England, where she was 
treated with great kindness, being presented to the court. She died a few 
years later. 

~ It was a common custom among the Indians to adopt captives into their 
tribes. 




Copyright Detroit I'h.t . ( 

POCAHONTAS — MRS. JOHN ROLFE 



42 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

almost any flesh that could be captured. Houses were torn 
down, as were the palisades, and used for fuel. Of five hun- 
dred persons who had come to the colony since its first estab- 
lishment there now remained only sixty, and these were in the 
last stages of privation and suffering. 

Dale's Rule. Put help was near at hand. A new charter 
had been granted to the London Company in 1609 that placed, 
more power in its hands, and Lord Delaware was made Gov- 
ernor.^ The advance expedition which Lord Delaware had 
sent with supplies and new settlers was delayed for many 
months in the Bermuda Islands, and many of the vessels were 
lost. At last when the vessels with the supplies reached the 
miserable little settlement on the James they found death and 
desolation awaiting them. The vessels had provisions for 
only a week, and so it was decided to abandon the colony. The 
new arrivals, with the survivors, started out, hoping to reach 
Newfoundland, where they could obtain supplies and then re- 
turn to dear old England, but as they sailed down the river 
they met -Lord Delaware coming with abundant supplies, so 
the little ships were turned back and Jamestown began its life 
anew. Soon Lord Delaware returned to England and Sir 
Thomas Dale was sent out as deputy governor. 

For five years Dale was tHe ruling spirit of the colony. 
He declared martial law and forced the men to work, but 
gave them miserable rations in order that the company's 
profits might be increased. Dale's rule was tyrannical, but he 
put new life into the colony by allowing nearly every settler 
three acres of land to work for himself, although the greater 
part of his earnings still went to the company. From this 
time forward there was little idleness and the settlement de- 
veloped into an orderly establishment. 

Tobacco Culture. The chief event of Dale's time, which 

1 The charter of 1609 fixed the boundaries of Virginia to begin two 
hundred miles on each side of Old Point Comfort and extend west by 
northwest to the South Sea. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 



43 



served to put the colony on a firm foundation of prosperity, 
was the beginning of tobacco culture. For this, John Rolfe, 
an intelligent and industrious young Englishman, was cliiefly 
responsible. With the increase of the individual allotment 
of land to fifty acres, the set- 
tlers began to prosper and 
soon tobacco became their 
staple crop and its use was 
extended all over the civil- 
ized world. The king and 
the London Company dis- 
couraged the industry, for 
they hoped that Virginia 
could be made to yield silk 
and wine in abundance; but 
the colonists refused to aban- 
don the crop that brought as 
much as $12 a pound on the 
London market. 

Representative Government. 
The year 16 19 is memorable 
in the annals of Virginia and 

'=' . TOBACCO PLANT 

of America. Through the m- 

fluence of the broad-minded Sir Edwin Sandys, one of the rul- 
ing spirits of the London Company, the people of Virginia in 
•that year were permitted to enjoy a measure of representative 
government. The power of the governor was limited and a 
body of freemen, called the House of Burgesses, elected by 
the people, was constituted to meet annually and pass local 
laws. The first house, composed' of twenty-two delegates, 
met in July, 1619, at the church house in Jamestown. This 
was the beginning of self-government in America. 

Servants and Slaves. Self-governing and prosperous Vir- 
ginia attracted many settlers who found i)rofit in the rapidly 
increasing tobacco industry. Large grants of land were made 
to individuals on condition of their transporting to America 




44 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

servants and materials for the cultivation of the land. The 
white servants transported under contract were known as 
" indented " servants. In return for the cost of their trans- 
portation to America they bound themselves out for a term 
of service, generally four to six years. 

The supply of labor was further increased by the introduc- 
tion of slaves. The first importation arrived in 1619, when a 
Dutch ship anchored at Jamestown with twenty native Afri- 
cans whom the planters purchased. From time to time other 
slaves were brought into Virginia and the other colonies, , 
and the slave trade for many years was a recognized branch 
of commerce. 

Wives for the Settlers. The third interesting event of the 
year 16 19 was the arrival of ninety young women at James- 
town who had been sent out by the company to become the 
wives of the young settlers and planters. The planter could 
secure a wife, with her permission, of course, by paying her 
transportation in the amount of one hundred and twenty 
pounds of tobacco, in value about $500. More than one ship- 
load of this interesting and charming merchandise arrived in 
Virginia before the demand could be fairly supplied. It was 
not long before the men of the colony became more contented 
as these wives set up housekeeping in the rude cabins and made 
Virginia a place of homes. 

Indian Massacre. In 1622 Virginia was prostrated by an 
Indian massacre. Opechancanough (o-pech-an-ka'no), who 
succeeded Powhatan as .chief of the Indian tribes of that sec- 
tion, resented the constant encroachments of the wdiites and 
led his braves against the settlers in a war intended to destroy 
them from the Chesapeake to the last cabin on the James. 
Houses were burned, crops destroyed, men butchered, and 
women and children carried into slavery. But the colonists ' 
soon rallied and paid the blood debt with compound interest, ' 
and then peace was restored. 

In the meantime King James I, narrow-minded, stubborn, 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 



45 



and bigoted, began plotting to destroy the London Company 
because he was resentful of its liberal policy and was hostile to 
its leaders. The Indian massacre of 1622 was used as a pre- 
text for a charge of mismanagement, and otlier complaints 
were manufactured. In 1624 the charter was annulled and 




IXDIAX MODE OF ATTACK 



Virginia became a Crown colony subject to the direct rule of 
the king or his appointees. 

Civil War in England. But self-government in the colony 
did not die with the London Company. Fortunately afifairs 
in the mother country compelled the king to neglect Virginia, 
and she retained her House of Burgesses and with increasing 
freedom administered her local affairs. James I died in 1625 
and his more autocratic son, Charles I, succeeded him. Mean- 
while a strong revolutionary party arose to oppose the despotic 
rule of the king and all his energies and thoughts were em- 
ployed to save his throne and his head. Soon England be- 



46 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

came involved in a desperate and deadly civil war/ The 
leader of the revolution was Oliver Cromwell, a stalwart son 
of freedom, intensely religious, talented, and courageous. He 
overcame the king, who was beheaded in 1649, and Cromwell 
became the " Protector of the Commonwealth." But Virginia 
was loyal to the king; the House of Burgesses denounced the 
execution of Charles and invited his son, Charles H, to come 
to America and rule over his " Old Dominion " of Virginia. 
The sympathy of the Virginians with the Royalists caused the 
colony to become a refuge for many distressed and outlawed 
Cavaliers. 

But the victorious revolutionary party in England would 
permit no such opposition or lack of allegiance in Virginia, 
and in 1652 a commission was sent over with a fleet to sub- 
due the colony. Governor Berkeley showed signs of opposi- 
tion, but he was overruled by local advisers, and Virginia, the 
last of the British dominions to abandon the king, reluctantly 
acknowledged the authority of the Commonwealth. For eight 
years thereafter she enjoyed complete self-government. 

Growth of Virginia. Virginia was now growing rapidly in 
wealth and population. Settlement was moving northward, 
but in 1644 development had received a slight check by an- 
other Indian massacre. The grim and grizzled old Opechan- 
canough again tried to overrun the settlements, but the In- 
dians were quickly subdued and the old chief himself was 
taken prisoner. Trade expanded to such an extent that Dutch 
as well as English ships were attracted to the colony and the 
plantation wharves were loaded with tobacco for shipment to 
the markets of the world. The Cavaliers, with their educa- 
tion and culture, gave a distinct tone to the life of Virginia. 
which thus, at an early time in the very midst of primitive 
surroundings, became noted for social and intellectual 
graces. 

By this time, 1660, Virginia was no longer the only English 

1 Those in favor of the king were called Royalists or Cavaliers ; those 
in favor of the rule of Parliament were called Roundheads or Puritans. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 



47 



colony in America. There was now a little group of settlers 
in Northern Virginia, or New England, as that region came 
to be called, and still nearer at hand on the upper Chesapeake 
Bay was the colony of Maryland. Between these northern 
and southern colonies the Dutch had established themselves in 
the Hudson Valley. 

Maryland. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, had 
been a member of the London Company and was deeply inter- 
ested in the work of colonization.^ At his request, the king 
granted to him a tract of land extending from the Potomac 
to the fortieth parallel of latitude on the north and as far 
west as a line drawn through the source of the river. Balti- 
more and his heirs were made pro- 
prietors of the territory and were 
required to pay nothing to the 
crown except two Lidian arrow- 
heads a year in token of homage 
and allegiance. The new colony 
was named Maryland in honor of 
Henrietta Maria, the queen of 
King Charles. 

Lord Baltimore's object was two- 
fold. He desired the profits of the 
enterprise and, as he was a Roman 
Catholic, he wished to establish a 
colony where persons of his faith 
might find a refuge from the re- 
ligious persecutions of England. 
In order better to promote the second purpose he resolved that 
all Christian sects should be tolerated in Maryland. 

But the first Lord Baltimore was never permitted to realize 
the desire of his heart; before his charter was formally 
executed he died and the responsibility fell upon his son and 

^ Lord Baltimore had already attempted to establish a colony in New- 
foundland which he called Avalon, but he found the region too cold and 
abandoned the enterprise. 




LORD BALTIMORE 



48 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

heir, Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. In 1634 two 
lumdred colonists were sent out, consisting of both Catholics 
and Protestants who for the most part were laborers and 
skilled mechanics. 

Many settled at a little place which they called St. Marys, 
on a high bluff near the mouth of the Potomac. They 
bought lands from the friendly Indians at the price of a few 
steel hatchets and hoes and some pieces of bright colored 
cloth. 

The early history was comparatively peaceful and happy. 
There was no " starving time." These settlers were more 
industrious than the first settlers of Virginia, and, profiting by 
the example of the sister colony to the south, they entered at 
once upon the culture of tobacco and encouraged the importa- 
tion of indented servants and slaves to till the soil. Baltimore, 
a man of kindly disposition and of great executive ability, early 
established friendly relations with the Indians. 

Assembly of Freemen. The Maryland charter contained 
a provision for the assembly of freemen to assist in making 
local laws. In this instance, as in most of the New England 
townships, the people, by their direct action without the inter- 
vention of representatives, enacted their laws. The first as- 
sembly developed a controversy as to whether the proprietor 
or the freemen should initiate or propose legislation, and the 
matter ended by vesting this right in the people. 

Boundary Controversy. During Maryland's early years 
the only serious interruption of its business and prosperity 
was a long boundary dispute with Virginia. The grant to 
Maryland was carved out of land which at one time had been 
a part of Virginia, and this fact provoked a sense of grievance 
in the older colony. William Claiborne had established a fur 
trading station at Kent Island, within the boundaries of 
Maryland, and, although Lord Baltimore protested he con- 
tinued to trade with the Indians from that point. The dis- 
pute growing out of this incident was bitter and protracted 
and grave rise to much ill feeling and some bloodshed. Bal- 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COLONIES 49 

timore contended for his rights under his charter, while Clai- 
borne, backed by the Virginia authorities, stoutly maintained 
his position. In the end the English authorities awarded the 
island to Maryland and established her boundaries. 

Act of Toleration. In Maryland, as in other colonies and 
in England at this time, religious contentions were rife and 
religious antagonisms were bitter. The policy of Balti- 
more permitted all persons of Christian faith to enter Mary- 
land, though from time to time the spirit of tolerance was 
forgotten in the ascendency of one or another sect. In 1649 
the assembly of Maryland enacted the Toleration Act, under 
which no man was to be molested on account of his religion 
so long as he professed to believe in Jesus Christ. The 
Maryland colony in the south and the Rhode Island settlement 
under Roger Williams in the north were alone among the 
colonies in providing by law for religious freedom. In the 
other colonies, as in the mother country, there was no real 
religious freedom until long after this period. 

Following the overthrow of Charles I and the establishment 
of the Commonwealth, commissioners were sent, in 1652, to 
reduce Virginia to submission, and, going to Maryland, they 
received pledges of allegiance from that colony also. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. About 1600 in what two parts of the world did England become in- 
terested? 2. In the later i6th century what nation was the commercial 
rival of England? in the 17th century? in the i8th century? 3. Of what 
consideration as to location of a settlement did the Jamestown settlers 
have no thought, which we to-day should probably consider of great 
importance? 4. Give as many reasons as you can why the Jamestown 
colony had a hard time at first. 5. What was the character of the Stuart 
Kings? Name them in order. 6. In what respecf was the government of 
the Maryland colony like that of Virginia? In what respects different? 
7. Did slavery at first flourish in Virginia? 



CHAPTER IV 

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 

It will be remembered that in 1606 two trading companies 
were chartered in England for the purpose of colonizing 
America. We have already recorded the work of the London 
Company in Virginia. The first effort of the Plymouth Com- 
pany on the bank of the Kennebec, as we have noted, was a 
failure ; and the New England coasts for years were bare of 
English settlements. When sCiccessful colonization was ac- 
complished in New England it was due, not to the efforts of 
the Plymouth Company, but to the resolution of certain Eng- 
lish people to escape religious persecution. 

The religious sects in England in the seventeenth century 
may be divided into three classes : first, there were the mem- 
bers of the Church of England, the state church, to which the 
majority of people belonged and which was sustained by the 
government ; second, there were the Roman Catholics, few in 
number and oppressed by the civil powers; third, there were 
the extreme Protestants, who dissented from both the Catholic 
Church and the Church of England. These dissenting Prot- 
estants were divided into two classes: first, were the Puri- 
tans, so called because they preferred to remain in the 
established church but wished it " purified " of certain forms 
oi worship; second, were the Separatists, who wished to 
separate from the Church of England and set up independent 
congregations. Objection was made by these " dissenters " 
not only to the forms and ceremonies of the established 
church, but to its mode of government under the administra- 
tion of bishops and archbishops. The civil government not 
only recognized the Church of England as the church of state, 

50 



NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



51 



but levied taxes for its maintainance and persecuted all dis- 
senters. 

The Pilgrims. The Independents, or Separatists, were so 
harshly treated that life became intolerable and at last a little 
band of them resolved to leave England and go to Holland, 
which was then the only nation in Europe where there was 
religious toleration. Here these Pilgrims, for the sake of 
conscience, lived for ten long, weary years, but the love of the 
mother country was strong in their hearts ; they were still Eng- 
lishmen and they could not be reconciled to rearing their chil- 




SIGNING THE COMPACT ON BOARD THE MAYFLOWER ' 

dren as foreigners. In their distress their thoughts turned to 
the New World in the hope that they might find a habitation 
and establish a community where they could worship in their 
own way and still be loyal to England. A grant of land was 
obtained from the London Company and the king gave a prom- 
ise that they should not be molested. Money was raised by 
London merchants for transportation and supplies and it was 
agreed that all property and earnings should be held in " joint 
stock " until the debt due to the merchants was paid in full. 



52 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



At last all was in readiness for the venture, and the little 
band, with brave hearts and firm faith, started out on another 
and greater pilgrimage. Two boats, the Mayfloiver and the 
Speedwell, set sail; but the latter proved to be unseaworthy 
.and returned, so the Mayfloiver sailed alone with the one 
hundred and two colonists. The purpose was to settle some- 
where south of the Hudson River; but foul weather prevented 
accurate calculations, and in November, when the Mayfloiver 
reached New England waters near Cape Cod, the ship's cap- 
tain refused to go farther. 

The Pilgrims' Compact. Finding themselves north of the 
London Company's grant, and therefore beyond its civil juris- 
diction, the Pilgrims, before landing, drew up an agreement 
which was perhaps the first written compact of government 
in history, binding themselves to due submission and obedience 
" to such laws as should be enacted for the general good of 
the colony." They chose John Carver for their governor and 

went ashore at a 
place which they 
called Plymouth, in 
memory of Ply- 
mouth of Old Eng- 
land.^ The precise 
date of landing was 
December ii, 1620, 
near a large boulder 
since known as Ply- 
mouth Rock, and the 
Pilgrims " fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven 
who had brought them over the vast and perilous ocean." 
These colonists were earnest, industrious, God fearing people, 
willing to work and suffer, if necessary, for their faith. 
Among them were John Carver, the first governor ; the schol- 
arly William Bradford who in the following spring after Car- 

1 Captain John Smith, who had charted the New England coast, had 
called this same spot Plymouth. 




PLYMOUTH ROCK 



NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



53 




MVI.ES STANDISH 



ver's death became governor, and the brave little soldier, Cap- 
tain Myles Standish who was dubbed " Captain Shrimp " on 
account of his size, but whose pluck and ready wit were valu- 
able in dealing with the Indians. The Pilgrims were prompt 
in setting to work, felling trees, 
erecting homes, building a fort, 
clearing land, and planting corn. 

The Colony. The first winter 
was one of great suffering. The 
horrors of Jamestown were repeated. 
As a result of the long sea voyage 
and poor diet, many of the settlers 
had scurvy, while others suffered 
from the cold. By springtime 
nearly half of the little band had 
found graves under the snow. But 
the Pilgrims were fortified with the 
steadfast courage that conquers diffi- 
culties, and when the Mayflozuer, in the spring, set sail for Eng- 
land not a single one of them went back. When the crops of 
the first summer were harvested in the autumn, a day of thanks- 
giving was appointed, and this circumstance was the origin of 
our Thanksgiving festival. 

Plymouth had no such Indian massacres as those which 
Jamestown suffered. The coast at the point where the settle- 
ment was made was comparatively free from Indians on ac- 
count of a pestilence that had destroyed many of them a few 
years before. But even during the first winter watchers had 
observed Indians stealthily looking about on the edge of tlie 
wood. One day in March, 1621, the settlers were surprised 
when an Indian walked boldly into their village and cried 
"Welcome." This was Samoset (sam'o-set), who had 
picked up a few English words from fishermen who occasion- 
ally visited the New England waters.^ 

1 An Indian, Squanto (skwiin'-to), ■ was a great friend of the people 
of Plymouth and taught them many ways of getting along in the wilder- 



54 



STUDENT'S lllSI'OivY ol' OUK COUN'I'RY 



The .qrcntcsl: chief nf the neij^hborliood, Massasoit (nias'a- 
soil), of the VVanipaiioas^^s ( vv()ni'])a-n(/a,^-), made a treaty 

of peace wil h Ihe pi'opli' of 
I 'l)iiioiilh w hicli 1 a s 1 e d 
iiiori' than h.d \ a cciiliii'y.' 

Pilgrim Government. 
The joint-stock system was 
aI)ohshed after two years 
and eacli hi mschi )ld en ji lycd 
tile pi-ofit of its own lahoi'S. 
Odu'r towns and trathiii^ 
posts were estahhshed, and 
nian\' ( )lhei' " (Hssenlers 
came o\-ei" I r( mi l',n!_;land d > 
cast ihcii' lot wilh their 
friends in ihc New World. 
The CI ill mv was dcnn icral ic 
in ;^o\ crnincnl ; ( lir pn iple 
I'lcrlcd dicir own ij;ovi'rnor 
and llieir own legislative as- 

I'UUITANS (.Ml M. |u ( II ri;(I| _ '^ 

semhly. I'or many years 
riynionlh pi-osperid ;nid linally it was merij^ed into die i^reater 
coloiuol Massachnsetts Hay. 

Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans in hji,i;lanil con- 
stituted the lihci-al parly in chnrrh, as wh-II as in state, and Ihe 
despotic ( liarlcs I resoKt'd lo crnsli ihcni hecanse ihey were a 
hindrance (o his anloeialic rule. Sonir of (he I'milan leaders, 
seeing Ihe daii,m-r ihrealeniiiL;' from Ihe crown, resolvt'd to fol- 
low in ihe foolsleps of those who had ,L;one hefore. In idjS 
a mronp of wcallhv and inllnenlial I'milans formed a Iradin,;;' 

iicss. lie had luin ciiiliircd a fi'w years before and taken to luiropc and 
sold as a slave; lain lie was restored to his people by an Englishman and 
ever afterwards he was a firm friend of the English. 

' The Narragansen chief Canonicus (ka-non'i-kns) on one occasion sent 
to Plynionth a snake skin cfintaining a bnndle of arrows, (jovernor l>rad- 
ford removed the arrows and fdled the skin wilh ])owder and shot and sent 
it hack, ('anonicns nnderstood the hint and was careful to keep peace with 
his white neighbors. 




NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



55 



company known as the Massachusetts P>ay Company, and pur- 
chased from the Council for New iMif^land, which had taken 
the place of the Plymouth r>)m])any, a tract of land alonj^ the 
coast of Massachusetts from a point Ihrce miles north of the 
Merrimac to a j)oin1 llircc milt-s south of the f!harles, and ex- 
tending as far west as the Pacific Ocean. Men were sent to 
occupy the land under the leadership of John Endicott and they 
settled at Salem. 

In the meantime affairs were approachinj.( a crisis in iCng- 
land. In (629 King Charles dissolved Parliament, which was 
compo.scd largely of Puritans, anrl set himself finally U) have 
his own tyrannical way withmit interference or restraint hy a 
legislative body. Illegal taxes were levied and pef>ple who 
refused to pay them were thrown into prison. This despotic 
course caused many other Puritans to emigrate lo America. 

The Massachusetts 
Bay Company, in 1629, 
further fortified itself 
with a royal charter 
which granted to the 
freemen of the com- 
[)any the right to choose 
their own governor, his 
deputy, and the council, 
and to manage in every 
way their own affairs. ^^ 
One striking omission 
was that no seat of 
government for the 
company was sj)ecified ; 
it could meet in Pon- 
don, in Massachusetts, 
or anywhere else. Ac- 
cordingly, the company, 
which was incen.sed hy the high-handed conduct of the king, de- 
cided to move to America in a hr;dy and here to exercise its 




JOHN WINTHROP 



36 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



charter rights. This trans toronco occurred in 1O30 and in the 
same \ear i.ooo persons came to ^h\ssachnsetts. The lead- 
ing spirit of this immigration was John W'inthrop, a weaUhy 
conntrv gentleman, w ho hecame the governor of the colony. 

The Great Immigration. Voy the next ten years immigra- 
tion increased in large volnme. Many thonsands left their 
homes in England and took np their ahode in the Xew Eng- 
land forests. I'hc people came not singly, nor as families, hnt 
whole church congregations, led hy their ministers, llocked to 

this promised 
land. S o o n 
M a s s a c h u - 
setts was dotted 
with towns and 
h a m lets a n il 
C h a r 1 e s - 
ti,nvn, r>oston. 
\\' a t e r t o w n. 
Dorchester, and 
many other set- 
tlements were 
made. Many of 
the immigrants w ere men o\ wealth and learning and some of 
the ministers were among the foremost preachers of the time. 
A college was fonnded in i(\^("> hy onler of the Massachusetts 
assemhly ; and when, in lo^v^. John llar\ard hcqueathed a sum 
of money ami his lihrary to the institution, it was called 
Harvard College in his honor.' 

Government. The government of this colonv. like that of 
riymonth. was tlemocratic. According to the terms of the 
charter the people elected their own governor and other otVi- 
cials. The freemen of each town met jXM-iodicallv to legislate 
in their local affairs, and elected representatives to the general 
assemhlv or general court which legislated for the whole 




l\n>yright IVlrv<i» Photo Co. 

HARVARD COIXEGE 



^ Another event of tlie year i(\u^ was the launching of the tirst slave ship 
built in America at .Marblchead, Massachusetts. 



NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



57 



colony. In 1641 IMassachusotts acU^ptcd a code of laws called 
the ** Body of Liberties." No persc^n was rated as a freeman 
with a right to vote unless he was a member of one of the 
churches within the cciKuiy. for while tlie Puritans left Eng- 
land in dissent from the eslablishetl church they still main- 
tained a union of church and state. Their purpose was not 
to establish religious toleration, but to build up communities 
wherein they coukl worship God in their own way, though 
they refused to allow the same privilege to those who dissented 
from their methods. 

Charter Troubles. Three serious disturbances occurred in 
the Massachusetts colony in the early years of its existence. 
Trouble with the king over the charter, religious dissensions, 
and a frightful Indian -war came in quick succession. Charles 
I. astonished and somewhat alarmed at the growth of the Puri- 
tan commonwealth across the sea, resohed to annul llie 
charter. Excitement ran high in JNlassachusetts and prepara- 
tions were made 
for resistance. 
Fortunately for 
the colony the 
attention of the 
king was fully 
occupied by a 
civil war at home 
where the armies 
of Parliament 
commanded b y 
Oliver Cromwell 
were winning 
victories and 
threatening the 
kingdom. This 
circumstance for a time left the colony free from interference 
bv the mother country. 

Religious Dissensions. jMassachusetts was rent by serious 







^HI^H 


1 




f^^v*: 


^ 


H^H 


I. 


t 


^^ 


li 


^^^ 






^ 


^^■•^1^22 


mmttM 





Copyriuht IVtrolt I'lioto Co. 
FIRST CHURCH AT 



AI.F.M, MASS. STILT, STANniNG 



58 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

religions dissensions while the attack on the charter was pend- 
ing. Roger Williams, a sincere and resolnte man who had 
come into the colony, entertained advanced ideas and boldly 
proclaimed them. He opposed the exercise of civil rights by 
the chnrch authorities and he questioned the right of Massa- 
chusetts to occupy her lands under the king's charter, because 
he held that the lands belonged to the Indians and should be 
purchased from them. As a consequence of this conflict Wil- 
liams and his followers were banished from the colony, and 
they set up a government of their own among the Narragansett 
Indians, where religious toleration was proclaimed and the 
church and the state were absolutely separate. No sooner 
had Williams been banished than other religious disturbances 
developed on account of the advanced views entertained by 
Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. The people of Massachusetts re- 
sented her activities and she too was expelled from the colony. 

Westward Movement. Massachusetts 'settlers soon began 
to cast their eyes westward fromitheiT- own bleak and barren 
coast to the fertile Connecticut valley beyond. The Dutch 
had already established a fort at Hartford and there built up 
a fur trade with the Indians. Disregarding the rights of the 
Dutch, the English pushed westward and established many 
small towns. But out of this westward movement came in- 
evitable conflict with the Indians. Just at the time when 
Massachusetts was sorely beset by threats from the mother 
country, and when Roger Williams was stirring the colony 
into a ferment, she was compelled to send men into the Con- 
necticut valley to reduce the Pequot (pe'kwot) Indians. 

Notwithstanding these difiiculties, the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony continued to prosper. . The people were industrious 
and thrifty; soon herds of cattle, goats, and swine browsed on 
the hillsides ; and a considerable shipping was developed in 
lumber, fish, and furs. Fully 20,000 people came between 
1630 and 1640, but with the Puritan ascendancy in England 
in 1640 immigration diminished. During the period of the 
Puritan commonwealth INIassachusetts governed herself as an 



NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



59 



independent power, and construing her charter in the broadest 
possible way she extended her jurisdiction so as to include 
many small fishing settlements in New Hampshire and Maine. 
Rhode Island. The removal of Roger Williams and his 
followers was the beginning of other New England colonies. 
Williams bought land from the Indians in the Narragansett 
Bay region and there established, in 1536, the tow^n of Provi- 
dence. Hardly had this settlement been made when Mrs. 




NARRAGANSETT INDIANS RECEIVING ROGER WILLIAMS 

Anne Hutchinson and her followers bought the island of 
Aquidneck (a-kwid'nek) (Rhode Island) from the Indians 
for " forty fathoms of white beads " and founded the town 
of Portsmouth. Other towns were established under similar 
circumstances and all these, in 1644. were merged in a charter 
constituting the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 
In these settlements the people enjoyed perfect religious free- 
dom. 

Connecticut. Connecticut was established in part by set- 



6o STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

tiers from Massachusetts and in part by emigration from luig- 
land. A trading- post, Saybrook, was located at the mouth 
of the Connecticut River by John Winthrop, Jr., who was 
acting as agent for Lord Say and Lord Brooke, the English 
owners of the property. Thomas ITooker, a great preacher 
at Cambridge, moved with his little congregation, driving their 
Hocks and herds before them like the patriarchs of old, into 
the Coiniecticut country. Other immigrations followed and 
soon there were three towns on the river, Hartford, Windsor, 
and W'etherstield just south of the Massachusetts boundary. 

Pequot War. But the Connecticut settlements narrowly es- 
caped extermination in their infancy. For several years the 
New England settlers were untroubled by the Lidians, but 
the westward mo\ement iM-ouglit the whites into conllict with 
two ])owerful and warlike tribes of the Algonciuin family — 
the Narragansetts and the Pequots. Relations with the 
former were friendly on account of the intluence of Roger 
\\'illiams, but that iniluence did not extend to the Pecpiots. 
Quarrels were frequent between the Lidians and the traders, 
and during the winter of 1636 and 1637 the Connecticut towns 
were in constant danger of attack by the saxages. W^ethers- 
field was the hrst to suffer; many of the men were killed and 
the women and children taken into captixity. The blood- 
curdling war whoop echoed in the forests during the whole of 
that terril)le winter, anel the fiendish tomahawk struck down 
victim after victim. 

Prompt measures were necessary to sa\'c the settlements 
from total destruction, and ]\Iassachusetts and Plymouth both 
scut out determined bands o\ militia and Indian allies who 
attacked the Pequots in their fortilied village, fell upon them 
without mercy, and reduced their four hundred warriors to 
a bare dozen. The women and children of the tribe were 
sold into slavery. .\s a consequence of this severe vengeance 
New England enjoyed peace with the Lidians for more than 
forty years. 

Growth of Connecticut. At the end of the Pequot \\'ar the 



NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 6l 

C(~»nnecticut settloniciUs took on a renewed growth. In 1639 
the freemen of the three towns assembled at Hartford and 
drew np the " iMuidamental Orders," which was a body of 
organic hiw and might be called the hvst written constitution 
known to history. The " Fundamental Orders " of the Con- 
necticut settlements set up a thoroughly democratic system of 
government wliich (littered from that of Massachusetts in the 
fact that church meiubership was not a necessary qualification 
for voting. Indian peace led also to the establishment of a 
new settlement in the Connecticut region. John Davenport, a 
noted Puritan minister from London, aided by Theophilus 
i'^aton, brought his congregation to America in 1638 and settled 
at New Haven. A little later all the towns near the mouth of 
the ri\er united with this settlement into the colony of New 
Haven. All laws were based strictly on the Bible and none 
but church members could vote. 

New England Confederacy. During the war with the 
Pequots, Connecticut had proposed to Massachusetts a con- 
federation of the New England colonies for mutual defense. 
There was trouble threatening from the Dutch, who were pro- 
voked on account of the loss of their fur trade in the Con- 
necticut valley, and were preparing to expel the English from 
that section. Besides, the iM'cnch were pushing the boundaries 
of New France southward. These conditions made it nec- 
essarv for the New England colonies to cooperate, and in 
1643 a body of representatives from Massachusetts, Plymouth, 
Connecticut, and New Haven met in Boston and formulated 
articles of agreement which bound them into the " New Eng- 
land Confederacy." ^ The afifairs of the Confederacy were 
to be administered by a board of eight men, two from each 
colony, who should meet at least once a year. Six of these 
were necessary to adopt a measure or ordinance and in this 
manner the three small colonics could control IMassachusetts, 
the wealthiest and most populous of the four. Massachusetts 

1 For rclipious reasons these four colonies refused to permit Rhode 
Island to join the Confederacy. 



62 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



found herself at times at a disadvantage and did not hesitate 
at nulHfication, that is to say, to declare null and void such 
measures of the Confederacy as were objectionable to her. 
The articles of the Con- 
federacy provided also 
for the return of run- 
away slaves.^ The New 
England Confederacy con- 
tinued until 1684. From 
first to last, by superior 




NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



management or by nullilication, as the circumstances permitted 
or required, Massachusetts was the dominating factor in this 
New England union. 

1 At this time slavery existed to a greater or less extent in all the col- 
onies and it continued to be a recognized institution until near the middle 
of the nineteenth century when the abolilion movement began in New 
England. 



NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 



63 




The Quaker Episode. During the later period of the Eng- 
lish Coninionvvealth a new religious sect appeared in the 
New England colonies. It was the sect of 
" Friends," or Quakers as they were popularly 
known, who were thoroughly despised and 
cruelly persecuted in England and who sought 
a home in the New World. The manners and 
customs of the Quakers as well as their doc- 
trines were unusual. The persecution of the 
Quakers w^as regarded at that time as a proper 
exercise of civil authority. Although the Pur- 
itans had left England to escape coercion in the 
matters of religious worship, they still held the 
view that the state should control spiritual mat- 
ters as well as political matters. They sought 
in America the right to indulge their own reli- 
gious opinions, hut they did not grant freedom 
of religious opinion to others within their civil jurisdiction. 
Lord Baltimore in Maryland and Roger Williams in Rhode 
Island offered religious toleration as it is practiced to-day in 
all civilized lands. On account of their insistent demands for 
the separation of church and state, Massachusetts regarded the 
Quakers as a menace to society, and, in 1656, when two of them 
appeared in Boston they were immediately clapped into prison 
and kept there until they could be sent back to England. 
Nevertheless, eager to make converts and ready to suffer for 
their faith, from time to time they continued to come into 
Massachusetts and they scattered in small numl3ers throughout 
all the colonies. Everywhere they suffered persecution ; they 
were ostracized and sometimes whipped without mercy, and 
at one time three of them were hanged in Massachusetts. 



A OUAKER 



THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What was the difference between the Puritans and the Dissenters? 
2. Why did the Pilgrims leave Holland? 3. To what extent did the Pil- 



64 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

grims believe in religious freedom? To what extent are Mrs. Hemans' 
lines true, 

" They left unstained what there they found, 
Freedom to worship God."? 

4. Mention some writings of the early New England settlers. 5. What 
American author has immortalized Colonial New England in poetry? Who 
has done the same thing in prose? 6. Contrast the early and the later 
treatment of the Indians by the whites. 7. What caused the great immi- 
gration? 8. Explain the Dutch-English conflict in the Connecticut Valley. 



CHAPTER V 

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT NEW GRANTS 

In the year 1660 American settlements were grouped into 
seven English colonies, five in the north and two in the south. 
Between these the valleys of the Hudson and the Delaware 
were in possession of the Dutch, while to the north were the 
aggressive French and to the south the inactive Spaniards who 
still held Florida and the Gulf Coast. This year marked the 
downfall of the English Commonwealth, or the Cromwell gov- 
ernment, and the restoration of King Charles H, son of that 
other Charles who paid for his despotism with his life. 

There was a marked change also in the affairs of the 
colonies. The king was jealous of their increasing power 
and hoped to profit by their prosperity. In order to insure 
commercial control, he found it necessary first to exercise po- 
litical control, and each colony was made to feel the weight 
of the Stuart influence.^ At the same time the king made 
some grants of land for the establishment of other colonies in 
pursuance of a general policy of favoring his courtiers and 
debtors. 

Grievances of Virginia. Notwithstanding the fact that 
Virginia had been in open sympathy with the king in his exile 
the " Old Dominion " received no favors at his hands when 
he was restored to the throne. On the contrary the Restora- 
tion brought to Virginia only oppression and caused much 
discontent in the colony. Sir William Berkeley, who had been 
deposed from the office of governor when the parliamentary 
commissioners under Cromwell compelled the submission 
of Virginia, was now reinstated and ruled the colony with 

1 Stuart was the surname of Kings James I, Charles I, Charles II, and 
James II. 

65 



66 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



an iron hand. He not only played the tyrant but he used 
his office for his own mercenary gain and for many years he 
denied the people the right of electing a new House of Bur- 
gesses. About this time the English government inaugurated 
a policy of commercial oppression and forbade the export of 
tobacco to any country except England. 

Bacon's Rebellion. But the most serious trouble in Vir- 
o-inia at this time came from the attacks of the Indians. Un- 
der one provocation or another the savages made frequent 
raids and soon the whole frontier, from the Potomac to the 

falls of the James, was 
swarming with painted war- 
riors. Homes were burned 
and settlers were slaughtered 
day after day, and, as Gov- 
ernor Berkeley took no de- 
cisive steps to protect the 
people, Nathaniel Bacon, a 
brave and impetuous young 
Englishman who had lately 
arrived, organized a force 
of desperate colonists and 
drove back the savages. But 
Berkeley bitterly resented 
this action and proclaimed 
the leader a traitor. Where- 
upon the rebel, at the head 
of several hundred men, 
captured Jamestown, from 
which the governor had fled. 
But Bacon soon fell a victim 
of swamp fever which ended his short and brilliant career 
and after his death the rebellion collapsed. Berkeley returned 
to power and visited terrible vengeance upon his enemies, 
hanging more than a score of them. These butcheries so dis- 
gusted King Charles that he finally recalled Berkeley to Eng- 




BACON DEMANDS COMMISSION TO FIGHT 
INDIANS 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



(^7 




C.pyriftlit Deti 



WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE 



land/ and the colonists celebrated his departure with bonfires 
and general rejoicing. 

Growth of Virginia. From Bacon's rebellion to the out- 
break of the Revolutionary War was just a hundred years. 
For Virginia it was a century of gradual growth in popula- 
tion and continual quarrels with royal governors. As new 
immigrants ar- 
rived, the fron- 
tier was pushed 
farther west- 
ward until the 
settlements 
reached the 
mountains. In 
the contests with 
the governors 
and under the 
stress of innumerable difficulties, the people gained more and 
more privileges and acquired more and more ability to manage 
their own affairs. A notable event of this period was the es- 
tablishment of William and Mary College at Williamsburg in 
1694. This institution was named for the sovereigns ^ then 
ruling in England and was the second college in America, 

Development of Maryland. The other southern colony at 
this time was Maryland, which prospered for many years un- 
der the wise administration of the Baltimores. Many were at- 
tracted to the colony on account of religious toleration, though 
here as elsewhere there was much strife among the religious 
sects. The settlement of Pennsylvania on the north gave rise 
to a boundary dispute which lasted for three-fourths of a cen- 

^ The king said, " That old fool has hung more men in that naked 
country than I did for the murder of my father." 

- William was called to the throne of England from Holland, where he 
attained distinction in war and statesmanship as Prince of Orange. King 
James had been deposed by his countrymen. Mary, the eldest daughter 
of James, was heir to the throne. She became the wife of William, and 
the two reigned together. King William was a wise and benevolent sov- 
ereign and his administration was very helpful to the colonies. 



6S STUDENTS HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

tun-. The boundary was finally established by a survey made 
in 1767 bv Mason and Dixon, two English surveyors, and this 
line afterwards became known as the line of division between 
the Xonh and the Sou:h. 

Affairs in New England. King Charles continued to look 
with disfavor on Xew England. These colonies were founded 
by Puritans who belonged to the party in England responsi- 
ble for the overthrow of royalty in 1649. To two of tb.e 
Xew England colonies the king was rather kind ; Rhode Island 
and Connecticut were granted liber;il charters. Plymouth 
was unmolested. Xew Haven had been slow in proclaiming 
the new monarch and she had harbored W'halley and Gotte. 
the regicide judges who had presided at the condemnation 
of King Charles I — a serious crime in the eyes of his son. 
King Charles II. This colony the king compelled to be an- 
nexed to Connecticut. 

But it was Massachusetts, the most im[X>rtant and powerful 
of the Xew England colonies, which most provoked the king 
by its failure to submit to his authority. A special commis- 
sion was sent over from England to examine into her affairs, 
for her ottenses in the king's view were many. She had been 
acting as an independent state for so long that it was three 
months after the restoration before Charles was proclaimed 

king in Massachusetts. She had 
passed harsh and unjust laws 
agTiinst the Quakers and had also 
refused to tolerate any other church 
than the Congxeg'ational ; ^ she had 
„ .-^ ^ ^^ ~x,.r,,x-^ extended her jurisdiction over Xew 

FIXE TREE SHILLING • . 

Hampshire and Manie regTirdless 
of the claims of others to those settlements; slie coined her 
own money, the " pine-tree shilling." ; - she openly defied the 
laws of England regulating trade, and shipped her products 

^ The churcli established by the Puriians m New England is known as 
the Congregiuional church. 

- The pine tree shilling was so called from the pine tree engTaved on one 
side. 




COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 69 

where she pleased. The king suspected also that Massachu- 
setts was gitilty of harboring the executioners of his father. 
On account of these many otYenses. Massachusetts was threat- 
ened with dire punishment, but before it could be administered 
war liad broken out between England and Holland, and on 
account of this and other affairs in the mother country the 
king's attention was diverted aiul the liberties of Massachu- 
setts were preserved for a few years longer. 

It was well for the colony that she enjoyeil this breathing 
space, for other misfortunes were at hand. There had been 
no serious outbreaks of the Indians since the Pequot \\ ar in 
1636 and 1637. Treaties of friendship had been formed be- 
tween some of the tribes and the colonies, and the mission- 
ary zeal of the ministers had led to the conversion of many 
of the red men. \'ery naturally therefore, there had come 
to be a sense of security even in the frontier towns. ^ 

King Philip's War. There were many rumors of Indian 
plots while Massachusetts was busy with the royal commis- 
sioners whom King Charles had sent out. Philip, the head 
sachem ot the Pokanokets ( po'ka-no'-kets ) . was plotting 
agTiinst the whites. This chief, the son of Massasoit, who 
made a treaty of peace with the Pilgrim fathers fifty years 
before, had become estranged from the English and was in- 
citing a general Indian uprising. Alexander, the brother of 
Philip, had died at Plymouth where he had gone to answer 
a charge of conspiring against the colony. Philip believed 
that his brother had been poisoned, though it was not true, 
and he enlisted the aid of the powerful Xarragansetts in a 
detennined effort to drive out the whites. An Indian war 
was always an unspeakable horror, but now it was doublv 
dangerous because the Indian had learned to use firearms. 
This war. known as King Philip's War, lasted two vears. and 
was one long story of burning and massacre.- The fiercer 

' John Eliot, a clergA'nian and niissionan' of Roxbun-. was the chief 
apostle to the Indians. For many years he worked among them and trans- 
lated the Bible into the Indian tongne. 

- During tlie war Elioi"s " Praying Indians," as they were called, re- 
mained faitliful to the whites. 



JO STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

fighting began in the attack on the Httle town of Swansea, 
Massachusetts, in June, 1675. Many men were killed and 
women and children were carried into captivity or brained 
against the nearest trees. Following this slaughter, town 
after town in the southern and western parts of the colony 
was pillaged and burned. When the Indians attacked the 
town of Hadley, an aged man with a flowing white beard 
— so the story goes — appeared just as the settlers were 
ready to despair, rallied them and led them to victory. The 
thankful villagers took him to be an angel sent from Heaven 
for their deliverance, but it proved to be Goffe, one of the exe- 
cutioners of King Charles I, who had been hiding a long time 
in the village.- By the spring of 1676 the strength of the In- 
dians was broken and Philip had fled before his pursuers. 
Finally he was shot by one of his own race. The torch and 
the tomahawk had ravaged the land and about six hundred 
men had been killed or taken prisoners never to return.^ 

Charters Annulled. In 1684 King Charles, provoked by the 
religious attitude of New England and fearing its increase 
of power, annulled the charter of Massachusetts under which 
she had conducted her afi^airs for fifty- four years, and the 
colony became a royal province. In 1685 Charles II died and 
his brother, James II, another despot, executed his plans to 
unite the New England colonies under one governor. 

At last the long dreaded governor-general arrived in the 
person of Sir Edmund Andros, who ruled in the autocratic 
fashion dear to the Stuart heart. He abolished the legisla- 
ture, levied taxes at pleasure, and turned the " Old South 
Meeting House," where the Puritans had worshipped, into a 
Church of England chapel. Andros demanded the charter of 
Rhode Island and brought that colony under his rule. He also 
went to Connecticut and commanded the assembly to surren- 
der the Connecticut charter, but that body managed to pro- 

1 Many of the Indians also were taken prisoners and were sold as slaves 
to South America and the West Indies. Among them were King Philip's 
wife and only son. The death of Philip broke the strength of the Indians 
in New England for all time. 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



71 



long a discussion of the subject until far into the night when 
suddenly the lights went out, and when new lights were struck 
from the tinder boxes the charter had disappeared. It is re- 
lated that Captain John Wadsworth seized the precious docu- 
ment and under cover of darkness hurried it away and hid it 
in the hollow of a 
great oak.^ Of 
course, the written 
document itself was 
of no effect under 
the nullification of 
the crown, and Con- 
necticut was com- 
pelled to pass under 
the rule of Governor 
Andros. New York 
and New Jersey, but 
lately conquered 
from the Dutch, like- 
wise passed into the 
Confederation. 

The "Glorious 
Revolution." But 
the people of Eng- 
land were worn out 
with the Stuart des- 
potism and in 1688 they deposed James II and invited William, 
Prince of Orange, to come from Holland and to reign as joint 
sovereign with his wife Mary, the daughter of James II and 
heir to the throne. This event is known as the " Glorious 
Revolution," because, without the shedding of blood, the people 
of England overthrew a despotic sovereign and established a 
constitutional monarchy. 

When the joyful news reached New England, Andros was 
seized and imprisoned and the old charter government was 




CHARTER OAK 



^ Later identified and revered as the " Charter Oak." 



72 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

restored in Rhode Island and Connecticut and continued in 
operation long after the Revolutionary War. New Hampshire 
was definitely separated from Massachusetts and erected into 
a royal province. Heroic little Plymouth was added to Massa- 
chusetts, as was Maine, under a claim to that region which 
developed during the quarrel with Charles H. Massachusetts 
did not regain her full measure of liberty; she was granted a 
new charter in 1691 under which she chose her own legislature, 
but her governor was appointed by the crown. 

The New England colonies did not soon forget those humil- 
iating years under Sir Edmund Andros, and they prized all the 
more dearly their restored liberties. Massachusetts spent the 
next half century in trying to protect herself from French and 
Indian perils, and, like her great sister colony of the south, 
Virginia, in wresting privilege after privilege from the hands 
of her royal governors. 

NEW GRANTS AND EXPANSION 

The Dutch. Although the English did not discover Amer- 
ica, they made its principal settlements and obtained control 
of the settlements that they did not make, finally dominating 
all the colonies on the Atlantic and preparing the way for our 
great political union. The tyrannies which their rulers prac- 
ticed were felt in the mother country as well as in the colonies. 
It was against these methods, these tyrannies, and kingly 
persecutions that human liberty was constantly struggling 
throughout the civilized world. 

The Dutch also were a great people and were early inspired 
by the civil and religious reforms which the English were 
making. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the 
states of the Netherlands escaped from the dominion of Spain, 
at that time a cruel and dominant power in the world's affairs, 
and formed an independent country. It will be remembered 
that the Pilgrims emigrated first to Leyden in Holland, one of 
the states where religious freedom was allowed, and from 
there they came to America. 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



73 



Henry Hudson. Just after the Pilgrims reached Leyden, 
Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ of the " Dutch 
East India Company," a trading corporation, undertook to 
solve the old problem of finding a shorter way to India, the 
land of silks and spices, and turned to the northwest in 
the hope of finding a waterway through the northern part of the 




LANDING OF HENRY HUDSON, THE HALF MOON IN THE DISTANCE 

continent/ In August, 1609, just two years after the found- 
ing of Jamestown, Hudson, in his ship the Half Moon, redis- 
covered Xew York harbor and ascended the noble river that 
bears his name. He engaged in traf^c witli the Iroquois 
Indians, and by virtue of his discovery Holland claimed the 
valleys of the Hudson and the Delaware and the country was 
called New Netherlands.^ 

1 Captain John Smith had suggested to Hudson that he might find a 
passage through the continent in the ncigliljorliood of the fortictli degree 
of latitude. 

2 Holland was one of the states of the Netherlands. Until recently it 
had been under the dominion of Spain. 



74 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Trading posts were soon established ; New Amsterdam was 
laid out on Manhattan Island, w^hich was bought from the 
Indians for twenty-four dollars worth of beads and ribbons, 
and Fort Orange was established at the head of navigation on 
the Hudson. Soon the Dutch traders were growing rich out 
of profits in furs which they bought from the Indians for a 
few trinkets and sold for large sums in Europe. Hudson 
was not long in realizing that the Hudson River was not an 
open way through the continent as he had supposed when he 
first entered it. 

The Patroons. Colonists were slow in coming to the New 
Netherlands, so in 1629 the Dutch West India Trading Com- 
pany, which had 
succeeded to the 
control of that 
region, adopted 
a new policy to 
attract settlers. 
Each person es- 
tablishing a col- 
ony of fifty set- 
tlers over fifteen 
years of age re- 
ceived lands 
fronting on the 
Hudson River 
sixteen miles on 
one bank or 
eight miles on 
both and extending far back into the interior. The owner of 
such a domain was called a " Patroon," and he enjoyed almost 
absolute authority over his land and its occupants ; he could 
make the laws and hold court ; all corn should be ground at 
his mill and no one should hunt or fish on his property with- 
out his consent. 

The governors sent out by the company were usually men 
of arbitrary spirit; hence bitter disputes arose between them 




c I'v I 111 II. ii-it rhoto Co. 

THE VAN RENSSELAER RESIDENCE. TYPE OF PATROON 
HOME 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



75 




PETER STUYVESANT — EARLY DRAWING 



and the settlers. Peter Stuyvesant was the last and most 
famous of these Dutch governors and is remembered for his 
extreme temper and his wooden leg. 

New Sweden. The Dutch also established trading posts in 
the Delaware region, but the 
Swedes soon took possession 
of that country and estab- 
lished posts there, the chief 
of which was Fort Chris- 
tiana near the present site of 
Wilmington. The Swedes 
had aided Holland in her 
struggles in Europe and, on 
account of the sympathy be- 
tween the two countries, the 
Swedes at first were tolerated in the region which the Dutch 
claimed. But in 1655 Peter Stuyvesant invaded the territory 
of New Sweden and the settlements were brought under Dutch 
control. 

The English Conquest. Stuyvesant had succeeded in sub- 
duing the Swedes, but he could not withstand the attack of the 

English. Holland 
and England were' 
commercial rivals, 
and were at war dur- 
ing the early part of 
tlie reign of King 
Charles II. The 
royal commissioners, 
sent over in 1664 to 
investigate affairs in 
Massachusetts, had 
instructions also to conduct an expedition against New Amster- 
dam, and an English fleet appeared in the harbor of that town 
demanding its surrender. Governor Stuyvesant protested with 
many oaths, but he surrendered, and New Amsterdam passed 




STREET CORNER IX 



'j6 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

into the hands of the English. This was in 1664, and in the 
same year King Charles gave the entire region from the 
Delaware to the Connecticut to his brother James, Duke of 
York, who afterwards became King James II. Thereafter 
this entire region, including the town on Manhattan Island, 
was called New York, in honor of the Duke of York. The 
English were tactful in dealing with the conquered people, who 
were tired of the tyranny of their governors and welcomed 
the change in administration. The people were permitted to 
manage their own local affairs, and in 1683 the colony acquired 
the right to elect its own legislature. In 1685 New York 
became a royal province when the Duke of York became king, 
and the same year it was placed under the administration of 
Governor-General Andros, together with New Jersey and all 
New England. When the news came of the accession of 
William and Mary and the imprisonment of Andros in Massa- 
chusetts, there was great rejoicing in the colony. Jacob 
Leisler, at the head of the local militia, overthrew the deputy 
governor and ruled the colony for two years in the name of 
the new sovereigns, although his authority was never officially 
recognized. In 1691 the governor appointed by the crown 
arrived in New York and under misrepresentations made by 
his enemies Leisler, a courageous but indiscreet patriot, was 
put to death as a traitor. New York was unfortunate in 
her royal governors ; one was believed to be in partnership with 
a band of pirates who infested the coasts and another swindled 
the colonists at every turn. The colony grew rapidly after 
English occupation and the city on Manhattan Island became 
a busy mart and ultimately grew to be the commercial metropo- 
lis of the Western Hemisphere. 

New Jersey. In 1664 James, Duke of York, ceded that 
part of the territory conquered from the Dutch, lying between 
the Delaware and the sea, to Lord John Berkeley and Sir 
George Carteret. The new grant was called New Jersey in 
honor of Carteret who had been governor of the Island of 
Jersey. The proprietors drew up a liberal constitution known 




Vliarlcr Colonies 
Proprietary i> 
Jioi/al >> 

70 In 1695 ' 



FCnk PKRIDDS OF ATI.AXTIC COAST DK Vi:i.O I'M KXT 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS "J-J 

as the " Concessions " and went to work intelligently to settle 
their colony. There were already a few Dutch in New Jersey, 
together with some New Englanders, and now a number of 
settlers were brought over from England. Some of the de- 
spised and persecuted Quakers came to the colony. These set- 
tlers of contrary habits and customs fell to quarreling among 
themselves and then with the proprietors over the making of 
laws and the payment of taxes. In 1674 Berkeley sold his 
share, the western half, to a company of Quakers, but by 1702 
the rights of the proprietors were acquired by the crown and 
New Jersey became a royal province. On the north and west 
were strong colonies, with the result that New Jersey escaped 
many of the perils of frontier life and was singularly free from 
Indian attacks. As a consequence of these conditions New 
Jersey enjoyed a rapid development. 

The Quakers. We have heretofore spoken of the persecu- 
tion of the Friends or Quakers and we have noted the harsh 
reception accorded them in Massachusetts and other colonies. 
The Quakers had many ideas that were strange. They re- 
fused to bear arms for common defense; they would take no 
oath of allegiance; they believed that there should be no dis- 
tinctions in dress and they wore simple clothes of sober 
drab with plain hats ; homage and reverence they held to be 
due to God alone and they refused to stand with heads uncov- 
ered in any presence ; simple language, besprinkled with 
" Thee " and " Thou," was addressed to all alike. The Quak- 
ers were a sturdy and virtuous people and in spite of ridicule 
and prison walls they gained many converts. 

William Penn. Among the English Quakers of that day 
was a stanch adherent of the new faith, William Penn, the 
son and heir of a wealthy and worldly sailor and courtier. 
Penn was interested in colonization and had been one of the 
group of Quakers who purchased Berkeley's share of New 
Jersey, but finding it impossible to execute his ideas of so- 
ciety and government in that colony, he determined to estab- 
lish a colony of his own as an asylum for his people. Charles 



78 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



II owed a large sum to Admiral Penn, William Penn's father, 
and the son inherited this claim against the crown. At Penn's 

request the king granted to 
him, in 1681, in payment of 
this claim, a tract of 40,000 
square miles in America. 
This region, called Penn- 
sylvania by the king in 
honor of the Admiral, was 
a fertile country of great 
forests, beautiful rivers, 
and lofty mountains. 

Pennsylvania. As pro- 
prietor of the new colony 
Penn governed wisely and 
well. The laws were made 
with the consent of the 
freemen, perfect liberty of 
conscience was guaranteed 
to all, and protection was 
given to the rights of the 
Dutch and Swedes who had already settled in the new territory. 
Pennsylvania was widely advertised and its liberal government 
and the low price of land attracted many settlers. Soon large 
companies of English Quakers, Germans, Welsh, and Scotch 
found homes in Pennsylvania. A city was marked out early 
in 1683 on the broad peninsula between the Delaware and the 
Schuylkill and was named Philadelphia, the " City of Broth- 
erly Love." It rapidly grew to be one of the chief cities of 
the country. 

Penn and the Indians. In dealing with the Indians, Penn 
was scrupulously honest and gained their firm confidence 
and lasting friendship. A famous treaty was made in the 
early days of the colony under a great elm tree on the banks 
of the Delaware, a short distance north of Philadelphia. Here 




WILLIAM PENN 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



79 



Penn and a few unarnied attendants, garbed in their Quaker 
costumes, made a pledge with the red men to Hve in peace and 
friendship " as long as the sun and the moon give light." This 
treaty was unbroken until long after those who made it were 
laid in the dust. The " Walking Purchase " was another fa- 
mous treaty Penn made with the Indians. Under the terms of 
this agreement he 
was to receive a 
tract of land as far 
west from the Dela- 
ware as a man could 
walk in three days. 
Penn and a few 
friends with a body 
of Indians covered 
about thirty miles in 
a leisurely fashion in 
a day and a half. 
Many years later the 
other half of the dis- 
tance was covered in an altogether different spirit. By this 
time the colonists had become greedy for land and when they 
undertook to define the western boundary by walking the ad- 
ditional day and a half they employed the fastest walkers that 
could be found ; sixty miles, or twice the original distance, was 
covered in the allotted time. 

The exact boundaries of Penn's grant, especially as to 
Maryland, were for a long time a source of vexation. The 
Maryland controversy continued for more than three-fourths 
of a century and was finally settled, as we have seen, by a com- 
promise at Mason and Dixon's Line in 1767. 

Delaware. Penn bought the three lower counties known 
as Delaware from the Duke of York so as to gain an outlet 
to the sea. Delaware and Pennsylvania had one governor 
until the time of the Revolution, but after 1703 these three 




Cpyiiglit Detroit Phot.. C. 



FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE 



8o 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



counties had a separate legislature. The two colonies were 
in the hands of Penn's heirs until separation from the mother 
country in 1776. 




PENX S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS 



South Carolina. In 1660 there was a vast unoccupied terri- 
tory between Virginia and the Spanish post of St. Augustine 
which Spain had claimed as a part of Florida. The French 
Hugxienots had named the region Carolina and had tried to 
establish colonies there, but their efforts had ended in bloody 
failure. Here it was that Raleigh's ill-fated first settlers 
spent their strength at the time when the land was known as 
Virginia. In 1663 Charles II, who found it easy to reward 
his favorites by gifts of extensive territory in the new world, 
granted this region south of Mrginia to eight of his courtiers 
who called the countiy Carolina. 

At the time of the grant there were already a few immi- 
grants who had strayed from Virginia and settled on Albe- 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



marie Sound. In 1664 a second settlement was made on the 
Cape Fear River a few miles from its mouth by English 
planters from the West Indies, and the rights of these early 
settlers were recognized by the proprietors. Soon other col- 
onists were sent over from England, and in 1670 a settlement 
was made at the junction of- the Ashley and 'Cooper riv- 
ers named Charleston 
w^hich soon became a 
very important com- 
mercial center.^ Reli- 
gious liberty was grant- 
ed to all the settlers and 
as a consequence there 
was considerable immi- 
gration of French Hu- 
guenots and Scotch 
Highlanders, two class- 
es who had great influ- 
ence in the development 
and subsec[uent history 
of the Carolinas.^ 

The Grand Model. The proprietors undertook to perfect 
a model government for their colony. John Locke, a cele- 
brated English philosopher, drew up a " Grand Model " or 
the " Fundamental Constitution " which proved to be wholly 
unsuited as a government for any community. It provided 
a series of classes of citizens from nobles to serfs and slaves. 
As a matter of fact the Grand Model w^as never put into 
effect, for the settlers of Carolina soon showed a determi- 
nation to manage their own affairs. 

1 The two rivers were named for the Earl of Shaftsbury, one of the 
proprietors, whose name was Anthony Ashley Cooper. The town was 
named in honor of the king. 

-Little difference of religious opinion was allowed in despotic France. 
Dissenters from the Catholic church were forbidden to go to New France, 
because they might give the wrong religion to the Indians. These people, 
called Huguenots, escaped in great numbers to other European countries 
and to the English colonies in America. 




CAROLINA AS GRANTED BY CHARLES II 



82 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



North Carolina. It was not a part of the original under- 
taking to plant two distinct colonies in this region, but the 
settlements were so far apart and communication so difficult 
that they could not well be united. However, it was not until 




CHARLESTON, I/SO 

1729, when the proprietors sold out to the crown, that the 
settlements were formally divided into North Carolina and 
South Carolina. As the population of these colonies increased, 
the settlers pushed far into the western forests and this brought 
the Carolinas into fierce contact with the Indians, who were 
often incited to warfare by the jealous Spaniards. The safety 
of the Carolinas was not definitely assured until a bufifer 
colony was erected between them and the Spaniards on the 
south. 

Georgia. The belated colony of Georgia, which served as 
a buffer between the Carolinas and the Spanish in Florida, 
was not founded until 1732. After the Carolinas passed back 
into the control of the crown the unsettled country south of 
the Savannah River, which had been a part of the grant to 
the eight original proprietors of Carolina, was reserved as 
crown property. James Oglethorpe, a valiant soldier and a 
man of noble heart, conceived a plan of founding a colony in 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 



83 



America which should be an asyhini for the unfortunate poor 
and those oppressed by political conditions in England. In 
the mother country there were many miserable debtors lan- 
guishing in unsanitary prisons ^ and it was Oglethorpe's idea 
that if these persons had an opportunity to begin life anew 
they might grow into useful citizens. He interested other 
benevolent men with him and the 
king, George II, granted to them 
a tract of land between the Sa- 
vannah and Altamaha Rivers 
which the trustees called Georgia 
in his honor. These trustees had 
full control of the colony and the 
governor and all other officers 
were appointed by them; the 
people had no voice in the gov- 
ernment. There was religious 
toleration for all except Roman 
Catholics. The amount of land 
which each man could hold was 
limited and for a long time slav- 
ery and the traffic in rum were 
forbidden. At the end of twenty- 
one years Georgia was to revert to the crown. 

Settlement of Savannah ; Georgia Becomes a Crown Colony. 
Soon thirty-five families set sail for the new colony under 
Oglethorpe, who was the first governor. In tlie spring of 
1733 they reached the mouth of the Savannah River and, on 
a high blufif overlooking the river a few miles from the sea, 
they founded the city of Savannah. Other colonists followed 
— the industrious Germans and thrifty Scotch — who made 
valuable additions to the population. Oglethorpe protected 
the colony against Spanish attack on the south, and, as he al- 
ways treated the Indians with kindly consideration, peace pre- 
vailed in that quarter and a profitable trade was established. 

i At this time persons could be imprisoned for debt. 




JAMES OGLETHORPE 



84 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



But Georgia was not content with her industrial and com- 
mercial conditions. The people desired slaves in order that 
they might compete with the Carolina planters ; they suffered 




GEORGE WHITEFIELD 



in commerce by reason of the prohibition of traffic in rum 
which at this time was the chief article of trade with the West 
Indies; they insisted upon the removal of the restrictions upon 
land holdings, and they were impatient to have a part in their 
own government. In all these desires or demands they suc- 
ceeded and Georgia grew apace. Among the settlers of 
Savannah was John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist 
Church. Shortly afterwards George Whitefield, another fa- 
mous preacher, immigrated to Georgia and founded an orphan 
asylum. In 1752 the trustees surrendered their rights to the 
crown and Georgia became a royal province. Georgia, owing 
to its belated founding, was at the time of the American Revo- 
lution still a weak and backward settlement. 



THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What famous author has told us of "King Philip"? 2. To what 
extent was Bacon justifiable in resisting the government? 3. What differ- 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT — NEW GRANTS 85 

ent features of the Kind's plan of consolidating all the New England col- 
onies were objectionable to the Americans? 4. What were some partic- 
ular provisions of the Acts of Trade and Navigation? 5. From what 
source did the settlers of Carolina come? 6. Why was political discontent 
great for a time in the Carolinas? 7. In what respect was the history of 
Pennsylvania more fortunate than that of other colonies? Explain why. 
8. How did it come about that we have such small colonies as New 
Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island? Was it due at all to natural condi- 
tions? 9. What is meant by a buffer colony? Mention a state in Europe 
that serves as a buffer state to-day? 10. What differences might be noted 
between inmates of jails, etc., of that time in England and to-day? 



CHAPTER VI 

LIFE IN THE COLONIES 

Population of the Colonies. Our forefathers settled in a 
new and strange land inhabited by wild beasts and wild men. 
By dint of labor and perseverance they possessed the forests 
and plains, established dominion over the seas, and subdued and 
held in check the natives who resisted their advance. By the 
middle of the eighteenth century they had attained a condi- 
tion of simple comfort and were enjoying" some of the luxuries 
of life. There were now thirteen colonies with a population 
of approximately a million and a half people distributed more 
or less evenly north and south of Mason and Dixon's line. 
Three-fourths of the white population were pure English stock 
and the other one- fourth was composed of several racial ele- 
ments. There were 300,000 negro slaves, of whom a large 
majority were owned in the South. The population was al- 
most entirely rural. In all the colonies there were only four 
places that deserved to be called cities, viz., Philadelphia, 
New York, Boston, and Charleston. Philadelphia, then the 
largest, had only 20,000 inhabitants. Erom the seaboard the 
settlers had gradually advanced toward the mountains and 
daring traders armed with axe and rifle were ready to enter 
the fertile valleys beyond. 

Colonial Government. The difficulties of communication 
among the colonies caused them to have comparatively little 
knowledge of one another, and each lived for the most part 
to itself.^ Nevertheless, there were points of similarity and 
there was a strong bond of sympathy among these thirteen 
young commonwealths. They all acknowledged allegiance to 

1 The New England colonies had a loose sort of union known as the 
New England Confederacy, but each colony preserved its independence. 

86 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



87 



one king over the sea, and the general form of local govern- 
ment was the same, though there were differences in the manner 
of filling the ofiice of governor. In Connecticut and Rhode 
Island the people elected their governors; in the proprietary 
colonies, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, the governors 
were appointed by the hereditary proprietors; and in the re- 
mainder of the colonies the governors were appointed by the 
king. The first two were called republican colonies, the sec- 
ond group proprietary colonies, and the third group royal 
colonies.^ But each had its own legislature chosen by the peo- 
ple and in them all there developed a firm belief in democratic 
institutions and a " fierce spirit of liberty " that was born of 
the wild freedom of the New World. 

Punishment of Crime. The laws against crime were much 
the same throughout the colonies. About one hundred of- 
fenses were punish- 
able by death.2 For 
other offenses cul- 
prits were put in the 
stocks or the pillory 
in some public place 
and there remained 
for hours in a 
cramped position 
subject to the jeers 
of all who chanced 
to pass by. The 
whipping post also 
was located in a pub- 
lic place in the little towns and villages, and criminals and 
runaway slaves were lashed on their bare backs with a cat-o'- 
nine-tails. The branding iron was not uncommon and often 

1 Massachusetts was called a semi-royal colony as her governor was 
appointed by the crown, but her other officers were elected. 

" Pennsylvania had tried to reform the penal code and abolish the death 
penalty for all offenses except murder, but it was too great a departure 
from the customs of the times and was abandoned. 




NEW ENGLANDEKS DUCKING A SCOLD 



S8 



STUDEXT'S FIISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the loss of some member of the body, as an eye or an 
ear or an arm. was the pnnishment intlicted. Imprison- 
ment for debt was observed, and the diieking stool was the 
favorite punishment for scolding wives. It is difficult for ns 
now to reconcile the harshness of these laws with our pres- 
ent conception of civilized government, but we cannot judge 
these colonial forefathers by jiresent-day standards. We have 
had two hundred years more of enlightenment to teach us what 
is right. 

Means of Communication. As communication was ditYi- 
cult it was a rare thing- for people to take long journeys, still 




STAGE COACH AND \\A\>U't: IXX 



there were a few highways of travel. Between the larger 
towns the early trails of the Indians and of the hunters hat! 
been widened into wagon-roads, though they were almost im- 
passable for a large part of the year on account of the mud 
or the snow. In the thinly settled districts the roads were 
mere bridle-paths and travel was by horseback or by foot. 
There were few bridges spanning the streams and passage 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 89 

was bv ford or forr\". llio slai^ccoachcs were nulc. nncom- 
fortahlo boxes swung on bi^b wbeols. and Ibe traveler was 
fortunate if be covered forty miles a day in one of tbese 
lumbering" vebicles. In tbe nortbcrn and middle colonies tbere 
were many wayside inns or taverns, but tbere were compara- 
tively few in tbe Soutb wbere tbe settleiuents were not so 
numerous. Tbe stagecoacli usually drew u\) to one of tbese 
taverns at about ten o'clock at nigbt, and tbe traveler ex- 
cbanged misery on wbecls for misery in cold rooms and on 
bard beds. At three o'clock tbe next morning the driver blew 
bis horn and tbe journey was resumed. In 1764 a regular 
stagecoach line was opened between New York and Philadel- 
phia, and three days were required for the journey which is 
now covered by fast railroad trains in two hours. It was 
quite an achievement at that time when this distance was cov- 
ered in two days by a line of stages called " The Flying 
Machine." It then took as long to go from Boston to New 
York as it now takes to cross tbe Atlantic Ocean in fast steam- 
ers. Pack horses were generally used to carry goods from 
place to place, though in the middle colonies large farm-wagons 
known as " Conestoga " wagons were coming into use. Peo- 
ple residing near the rivers used rowboats, and along the coasts 
sailboats were common. Travel by water was much more 
rapid and much more ct^mfortable than by land. 

Mails and Newspapers. The crown bad established a 
postal system and had appointed a postmaster-general, though 
the postage rates were high and the mails irregular. Mail- 
carriers, on horseback, waited until they bad collected enough 
mail to justify a trip, and then jogged along the roads with 
saddlebags stuffed with letters and newspapers, and sometimes 
packages which they carried on their own account for small 
fees. Some of tbe towns received mail as often as three times 
a week, while some of the rural communities were fortunate 
to get mail once or twice a year. Tbe rate on newspapers 
was a few cents each and the rato on letters ran as high as 
twenty-five cents each. Tbe first newspaper to be published 



90 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

was the Boston Nczvs Letter, established in 1704, and it was 
not until 1784 that the first daily newspaper of America, the 
Aincrican Daily Advertiser of Philadelphia, was published. 

Striking Differences. There were striking differences 
among the colonies due to climate, soil, and the racial qualities 
of the settlers. In New England the temperature is about 
the same as that of Norway and Sweden, while in the Carolinas 
and Georgia it is similar to that of Southern France. Differ- 
ence in soil was as great as the difference in climate. In the 
North it was rocky and thin, while the river valleys of the 
South possessed wonderful fertility. The Puritans had built 
up the New England colonies ; the Cavaliers had wielded the 
larger influence in the society of the South, and in the middle 
colonies there were more Dutch, German, and Scotch than 
English. Under these circumstances it was inevitable that the 
colonies should develop wide differences in their social and 
industrial life. The colonies fell easily into three distinct 
groups or sections; namely. Southern, New England, and 
Middle. 

Conditions in the South. The southern group consisted 
of the colonies south of Pennsylvania, and of these ^'"irginia 
was the largest and the most populous. In Virginia and 
]\Iaryland the people were mostly English, while in the Caro- 
linas and Georgia the French Huguenots and the Scotch- 
Irish predominated. The fertile soil and the congenial cli- 
mate of the South made farming the chief industry and 
the people for the most part resided in the country. Great 
plantations, consisting of thousands of acres, stretched along 
the river banks and the planters constituted the ruling class. 
There were a few small farms, but the small farmer could 
easily become a great landowner in a country where land 
was plentiful and cheap. There was little town life in the 
South, and Charleston and Baltimore were the only towns of 
any size in the whole section at that time, these being the great 
shipping ports of the South. In Virginia, however, the plant- 
ers shipped their tobacco direct from their own wharves in 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



91 



ocean vessels that came up the broad tidal streams and un- 
loaded their variegated cargoes of manufactured goods from 
Europe in exchange for the products of the plantation. 
Tobacco was the great staple in Virginia and Maryland, while 
in the Carolinas and Georgia rice, pitch, and tar were the chief 
products. A little cotton was grown near the sea. 

Labor in the South. In order to develop the resources of 
the South the planters had to resort to forced labor consisting 




SHIP AT A PLANTATION LANDING 



of indented servants and negro slaves. In Virginia and 
Maryland there were, at first, many more indented servants 
than slaves, but by the middle of the eighteenth century 
many indented servants had become part of the citizenship. 
These indented servants, after their term of service was 
over, obtained farms for themselves, and became good citi- 
zens; a man was not likely to remain the servant of another 
when he could easily become a landholder. Some of these 



92 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

indented servants were always a drag to the colony.^ In 
South CaroHna there were many more negroes than white 
people. The work of the slaves was comparatively easy 
and as a rule they were kindly treated, comfortable, and 
happy. In South Carolina the planters of the coast coun- 
try resided in the city of Charleston, as the rice lands were 
malarial and unhealthy except for a few months of the 
year. In this section the slaves were under the control of 
overseers. ]\Iost of the negroes were fresh from Africa or 
the West Indies and were somewhat unruly, and, as a con- 
sequence, the overseers were sometimes compelled to use harsh 
measures. To us to-day this condition of labor seems hard; 
but it appeared otherwise to the people of one hundred and fifty 
years ago. Many of the moralists of that day argued that if 
the negroes were brought from the swamps of Africa and were 
taught Christianity and the arts of civilization they were 
benefited. As a rule the masters worked as hard as the slaves. 
There was so much to do and so few to do it that every possi- 
ble means was used. 

Education and Religion. The scattered settlements in the 
South made it almost impossible to establish a general system 
of free schools. However, as early as 1635 Benjamin Syms 
left a legacy for the promotion of public education in Virginia 
and it became the duty of the chief officers of a parish to see 
to the education of the poor children.^ There were a few 
private schools and on nearly every plantation there was some 
sort of schoolhouse. In these " old field schools " little more 
was taught than the " three R's " and the teachers were 
often the ministers of the gospel in the neighborhood. It was 
in one of these humble institutions where George Washington 

1 Some of these indented servants were people of good birth in dis- 
tressed circumstances, who vohmtarily bound themselves out for a term 
of years in order to get a fresh start in the New World ; some were con- 
victs that England sent over ; others were prisoners of state ; still others 
were boys and girls kidnaped for the purpose in the English cities. 

- There were other legacies for the purpose of establishing free schools. 
One of these ancient gifts is now a part of the support of the high school 
at Hampton, Virginia. 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 93 

learned to "read and write and cipher, too." The wealthy 
planters had special tutors for their children and when their 
sons were ready for college they were sent to William and 
Mary's College in Virginia or to Oxford in old England. 
Many of the southern planters were men of broad learning 
and culture, and in some of the plantation homes there were 
excellent libraries. 

The Episcopal Church was established by law in the southern 
colonies, but other sects were tolerated. In western Virginia 
and South Carolina there were many Presbyterians, while 
Maryland had a liberal sprinkling of Catholics. Church 
buildings were often substantial structures of homemade brick 
and many of them are standing yet. 

Plantation Life. The planter was a busy man. He had to 
manage his farm wnth its many slaves and to conduct the 
transactions with his London merchant in the sale of his 
products and the purchase of his supplies. Often he was 
Justice of the Peace and member of the colonial legislature. 
Each plantation was a little self-supporting community. 

The plantations were equipped wath great barns for tobacco 
and corn, with stables and carriage house, cattle pens, dairy, 
poultry house, schoolhouse, and cabins for the negroes. The 
slaves not only worked the fields but some of them were 
trained for mechanical service; there were blacksmiths, car- 
penters, millers, and shoemakers — in fact, the negroes were 
taught various industries. The household servants were 
trained to cook, to spin, to weave, and to sew. The mas- 
ter's residence, the " big house," was set in the midst of trees 
and flow'ers, often on a high bluff overlooking some river, with 
the broad green fields around and the dark forests for a back- 
ground. There were spacious halls and big, airy rooms, guest 
chambers — for southern hospitality was generous — and a 
kitchen with a fireplace big enough to roast an ox.^ 

There were many pastimes and pleasures. The southerner 
was fond of hunting and fishing; he was an excellent horse- 

^ Stoves were practically unknown until 1750. 



94 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




GUEST S CHAMBER 



man aiul was perfectly familiar with the forest and trails. 
On court days there was always stump speaking on the village 
green and the crowds gathered there to hear the topics of the 
dav discussed. The arrival of a ship from Europe was a great 
event, the planter and his family and all the negroes assem- 
bling at the wharf 
to see her unload. 
There was much vis- 
iting back and forth 
at Christmas time, at 
Xew Year's, and on 
other holidays. Up- 
on the convening of 
the colonial legisla- 
ture or the inaugura- 
tion of a new gov- 
ernor the wit and the 
beauty of the colony 
gatheretl at the capital to do honor to the event. 

There were parties and balls where gentlemen in powdered 
wigs and suits of olive plush or peach-bloom velvet danced 
the stately minuet with fair kulies resplendent in bright 
gowns and rich jewels. Out of this responsible living and 
picturesque society of the South came George \Vashington, 
the great soldier and statesman, \\lio won our independence 
and directed the first period of the country's existence. At 
the same time and at other times came other great soldiers and 
political leaders who contributed conspicuously to the success 
of our rcimblic. 

Conditions in New England. The Xew England colonies 
presented many sharp contrasts with conditions in the South. 
This group, in the middle of the eighteenth century, had a pop- 
ulation of about 600,000, nearly half of whom were in the 
single colony of Massachusetts. The people were of almost 
pure English stock and for the most part thrifty, industrious, 
and honest Puritans. There were few slaves or indented serv- 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



95 



ants.^ Traders, shopkeepers, and small farmers constituted 
a large and prosperous element. The clergy, magistrates, 
college professors, and other professional men constituted the 
ruling class. 

The isolated plantation life of the South was unknown in 
New England ; on the contrary, this region was almost a suc- 
cession of towns and villages. Boston was the only community 




NEW ENGLAND KITCHEN 



of considerable size. The farms scattered between were very 
small. The people had migrated to New England as church 
congregations and naturally they had settled in villages with 

1 In New Eng'lanrl the farms were small and slave labor was not profita- 
ble. The few slaves in these colonics for the most part were household 
servants. Many of the New Englanders were slave traders, who obtained 
their slaves from Africa and sold them in the West Indies and the South. 
Indian captives were frequently sold as slaves in other parts of the world. 



96 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the church as a center. \\'hile the South was concerned almost 
entirely in agriculture, Xew England led all the colonies in 
the variety of her industries. The soil was poor and rocky : 
nowhere except in the Connecticut valley did it yield more than 
a poor living, and the fishing of the sea offered more profitable 
employment than the culture of the land. Small fishing com- 
munities dotted the coasts and wealth came from the rich hauls 
of cod and mackerel. Six hundred vessels were engaged in 
the trade with England and foreign ports. Cargoes of fish 
and cattle and timber were exported and the ships in return 
brought manufactured goods from Europe and molasses from 
the West Indies.^ The Xew England forests yielded an abun- 
dance of material for shipbuilding, and this became an impor- 
tant industry of that section, the colonial ships surpassing 
those built in England. Massachusetts, in one year, com- 
pleted one hundred and fifty ships. The thrifty New England- 
ers soon learned also to manufacture their furniture and 
their tools and, on a small scale, a great many other articles. 
From the earliest times New England, by reason of unprofit- 
able agriculture and the grouping of settlers into small com- 
munities, directed her energies into manufacturing and trad- 
ing.- 

Religious Conditions. It was the desire of the Dissenters 
for an opportunity to worship God in their own way that led 
to the establishment of New England, and naturally religion 
had a strong hold on the life of the people. In Rhode Island 
there was complete religious toleration, but in all the other New 
England colonies the CongregTitional Church was established 
bv law. Attendance at church was cmiipulsory, and absence 
was punished by a fine or a day in the stocks or the pillory. 
The sound of the horn or the beat of the drvmi summoned the 
congregation to church and they responded in spite of rain 

1 The molasses was converted into rum. England had severe laws re- 
stricting the trade of the colonies with foreign nations, but in the first half 
of the eighteenth centun.- they were not rigidly enforced. 

- Parliament forbade the manufacture of certain articles in the colonies 
for export, but the colonists were free to manufacture articles for domestic 
use. 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



97 



or snow. Tlie churches were without heat, but no matter 
how bitter the weather the Puritans sat patiently and rever- 
ently and listened to a three-hour sermon and a " long 
praver " and several short ones. If a man or a boy dropped 
asleep he was awakened by a sharp rap of the titliingnian's 
rod; or if a woman fell asleep she was recalled from the land 
of dreams by having her nose or chin tickled with a rabbit's 
foot attached to the other end 
of the rod. The people were 
seated in the church according 
to their social rank and no one 
was permitted, under the social 
custom, to dress " above his 
degree." 

Toward the close of the co- 
lonial era the Puritans had lost 
some of their religious fervor 
and had become more worldly. 
About, this time there was a 
great religious revival in the 
towns of these colonies con- 
ducted by Rev. Jonathan Ed- 
wards, the most famous New 

England preacher of the period, and by Rev. George White- 
field, a missionary and evangelist from England. This revival 
was known as the " Great Awakening" and infused new spir- 
itual life into the people. 

Education. The Puritans held that ignorance was " one 
chief project of that old deluder, Satan." and next to religion 
they valued education. Ability to read the Bible was esteemed 
a necessary part of the preparation for life. They had 
scarcely become established in their new homes when they 
turned their attention to the education of their children. In 
1636 Harvard College was established at Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, and in 1647 it was ordered that common schools 
should be established in the towns. The teacher was often 




JONATHAN EDWARDS 



98 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the minister and the pupils pondered for long, weary hours 
over the New England primer and the catechism/ There were 
few books or papers published in the colonies, although a 
printing press had been set up, at Cambridge as early as 1674. 
There were some writers of note among the New England 



^ '"9f 


m 


m 


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11% V i^i 


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I^BL " - v^-:'?^^^^t> > . IH^^^^^^I 


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Pi£ JM^riir'^^' 


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C 1., Hit-lit lifti.it I'll, 1.. (.<. 

TRIAL OF GEORGE JACOBS. OF SALEM, MASS., FOR WITCHCRAFT 

ministers, the chief of whom were Jonathan Edwards and Cot- 
ton Mather, both writers on religious, topics. 

Salem Witchcraft. Massachusetts particularly suffered 
from the prevailing superstition of the times. In the seven- 
teenth century there w^as a general belief in signs, in witches, 
and in " the evil eye," which superstitions developed a wide- 
spread " witch epidemic " in Massachusetts. The trouble had 

1 New England boasted four universities in colonial times. Besides 
Harvard there was Yale in Connecticut, established" in 1701 ; Dartmouth in 
New Hampshire, in 1750; and Brown in Rhode Island, in 1764. 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



99 



its origin in a simple incident. Some young girls who were 
in the habit of reading witch stories imagined they had been 
bewitched and accused a poor old woman of casting a " spell " 
on them. Other persons claimed to be under the " evil eye " 
of certain witches and these witches were tried in a special 
court conducted by the ministers. A common way to deter- 
mine whether or not a woman was a witch was to throw her 
into the water; if she sank she w^as innocent, but if she floated 
she was guilty. The epidemic spread and a number of persons 
were thrown into loathsome prisons and nineteen were 
hanged. At length the fanaticism subsided, and at a later 
])eriod the people bitterly repented the horrors caused by this 
delusion. 

New England Towns. In the New England towns there 
were some fair mansions of stone and brick and some preten- 
tious houses of " seven gables," but most of the homes 
were plain though comfortable and simply furnished with 
home made furniture. The big yards, with their quiet shade 
trees, were cool and 
inviting in the sum- 
mer but bleak and 
desolate during the 
long winters. In 
every town there was 
a tavern for the ac- 
commodation of trav- 
elers, a schoolhouse, 
a church, and a block- 
house for protection 
against the Indians. 
The families gathered before the great open fireplaces in the 
kitchens and rehearsed stories of " dear old England." Some- 
times there w^ere house-raisings, and corn-huskings, and quilt- 
ing bees, all of which attracted the neighbors and constituted 
important social gatherings. Thanksgiving was the great fes- 
tivalof the year; then there were family reunions and fine 




THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES 



lOO 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



dinners with turkey and pumpkin pie as the chief dishes. 
The Middle Colonies. The middle colonies differed from 
the other two sections in that the majority of their people 
WTre not of English descent. They had come in great 
numbers from countries of Continental Europe; the Dutch, 
had settled New York originally and in Pennsylvania there 
was a mixture of Germans. English Quakers, Scotch, and 
Scotch-Irish. All told there were about 400,000 people in these 
colonies, including indented servants and negro slaves.^ The 




A CONESTOGA FREIGHT WAGON 

middle colonies boasted two thriving towns, New York and 
Philadelphia. The latter was the largest city in all the colonies 
at that time and so remained until after the Revolution, when 
New York gained the ascendency. Class lines were more 
sharply drawn in New York than anywhere else in the middle 
group. At the very top of the social scale were the great 
landholders along the Hudson, many of whom were descend- 
ants of the old Dutch " Patroons." The professional men came 
next and then in order the merchants and laborers. In Penn- 
sylvania there was very nearly social equality ; there were few 
large estates and the people were peaceful and contented. 
Merchants and traders were numerous in the middle group. 

^ In Pennsylvania there were very few slaves. 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES 



lOI 



The people who settled in the middle colonies were thrifty 
and industrious and with the genial climate and fertile soil 
they prospered greatly. Agriculture was the chief industry 
in the river valleys and the big Conestoga wagons, laden with 
grain and other products from the valleys and mountain 
slopes/ lumbered into the busy towns. The activity of these 
colonies was in lines of trade — trade with the Indians and 
trade with foreign countries. The Indian trade was very lu- 
crative ; rum and a few trinkets were exchanged for valuable 
furs which were sold to foreign merchants at a rich profit. 
Despite the fact that pirates infested the coasts, a strong for- 
eign trade was developed. Philadelphia employed a fleet of 
four hundred vessels to carry each season's surplus products 
from her docks, and New York did 
nearly as much business. Fur, 
grain, and flour were important 
articles of export. 

Education and Religion. In the 
middle colonies comparatively little 
attention was paid to public educa- 
tion, although the Dutch in New 
York had made some efforts in that 
direction. There were some excel- 
lent private schools in New York 
and Philadelphia, and the latter 
place early attained distinction as 
a center of learning. Philadelphia 
had two public libraries and sev- 
eral notable private libraries, and the city boasted a uni- 
versity — the University of Pennsylvania, established in 
1731.- Benjamin Franklin was the leading man of letters 
and his fame rested chiefly on his Poor Richanfs Almanac 
with its homely sayings. Franklin was also a scientist ; 

^ The best roads in the colonics were in Pennsylvania, and they all led 
to Philadelphia. 

- Other colleges in the middle colonies were Princeton, established in 
New Jersey in 1746, and Kings (now Columbia), in New York in 1754. 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



102 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



he it was who discovered that lightning is electricity. Penn- 
sylvania had complete religious liberty; the spirit of kind- 
liness and toleration in all things pervaded the colony. In 
Xew York many of the people belonged to the Dutch Reformed 
Church. 

Manners and Customs. In the middle colonies there was 
both town life and country life. In Pennsylvania the people 
lived comfortably and with Quaker simplicity. New York 
society was different in many respects from that prevailing in 
the other colonies. ]\Iost of the people were the plodding, 
thrifty Dutch and they clung to their old manners and customs. 
The " Patroons " lived like lords on their riverside estates 

with their tenants 
scattered for miles 
about them. The 
Dutch houses had 
high. steep roofs 
with gabled ends 
" notched like steps " 
with a weather vane 
on top and a stoop or 
little porch in front. 
The Dutch women 
were famous house- 
keepers : their floors 
were always freshly 
scrubbed and sanded 
and their pewter 
plates and cups shone 
almost like silver. 
In the summer evenings the family gathered on the stoop, the 
men smoking their long Dutch pipes, the women busy with their 
knitting, and there they chatted until bedtime. In the winter 
they gathered around great roaring logs in the open fireplace 
and spent the evenings in cozy comfort. The Dutch loved 
games and merrymaking. On St. Valentine's Day, May Day, 




DUTCH HOME SCENE 



LIFE IN THE COLONIES I03 

Christmas, and Xew Year's they assembled by neighborhoods 
for spinning" bees, balls, picnics, or horse racing. 

American Characteristics. The varying conditions, hard- 
ships and isolation of these times developed those daring, per- 
severing, and resonrcefnl qnalities which made the self-reliant 
and constrnctive people of America. In all these early set- 
tlers there was an intense local pritle and a strong feeling of 
local independence. Their remoteness from the mother coun- 
try taught them to depend upon themselves and inspired con- 
hdence in their ability to govern themselves. In the course 
of time, as the ditYerent peoples of the colonies came into closer 
contact, thev lost their original peculiarities of manner and 
disposition and each contributed to the common stock the best 
qualities it possessed. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What was the attitude of the British governiueiit towards slavery in 
the colonics, and why? 2. Why were the majority of the Southern colo- 
nists Church of Englamd in religion? 3. What were the so-called "blue 
laws" of Connecticut? 4. What was the Puritan's idea as to the relation 
of church and state? Illustrate. 5. What type of settler came to occupy 
the Ohio valley? 6. How was it that Virginia claimed the Kentucky 
country? 7. Describe Franklin's Alinanac. 8. Did the people read much? 
In 1740 how many newspapers were in the colonies? 9. Were the people 
of the South as well educated as those of New England? 10. Of what 
different classes was the population of Philadelphia? Of New York? 



SOURCE MATERIAL 

General References: Egglcston, Beginners of a Nation; Tyler, Eng- 
land in America; Fiske, Old I'irginia and Her Neighbors, Beginnings 
of New England, Dutch and Quaker Colonies in A)nerica; Thwaites, 
The Colonies; Lodge, A Short Story of the English Colonies in Amer- 
ica; Fisher, Colonial Era; James and Sandford, History of the United 
States; McLaughlin, History of the United States; Bancroft, History 
of the United States; Gay, Bryant's Popular History; Freeman, Eng- 
lish People in its Three Homes; William Gordon McCabe, Puritan and 



104 STUDENTS HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Cavalier (.in Shurtcr's Oratory) ; A. M. Earle, Home-Life in Colonial 
Days, Child-Life in Colonial Days, and Stagecoach and Tavern Days. 



Sources and Othek Readings: Longfellow. Courtship of Miles Stan- 
dish; John Esten Cook. My Lady Pocahontas and Stories of the Old 
Dominion; Hawthorne, Grandfather's Chair; Kennedy, Rob of the Botvl; 
Eggleston, Pocahontas and Powhatan; Marj- Johnston, To Have and To 
Hold and Prisoners of Hope; Hemans, Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers; 
Simms, Smith and Pocahontas; Scott. Kenilzvorth; Hart, Source Reader; 
Canither's, Caz'oliers of Virginia; Librarj- of Southern Literattire, Letter 
of Captain John Smith to Queen Anne; Wilkins. Hearts Highway; J. K. 
Paulding, Dutchman's Fireside; Irving. Sketch Book; Stocktcm, Kate 
Bonnet; Marion Harland, His Great Self; Cooper, Dcerslayer. 



PlCTiTiES : Bmeckner, Marriage of Pocahontas and Rolfe; Lucy, Land- 
ing of the Pilgrims; Boughton. Pilgrims Going to Church and other Pil- 
grim pictures; West, Penn's Treaty zmth the Indians. See also Wilson's 
American People; Ogden, A Colonial Toast; Volk, A Belle of the Colo- 
nies and pictures in Mrs. Earle's book on colonial life. 



PERIOD ITT.— STRUGGLE EOR POSSESSIOX 

1689-17S9 

CHAPTER MI 

FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 

^^'e have now recorded the founding of the EngHsh colonies 
along the Atlantic coastal plain in an unbroken line from 
Acadia on the north to Florida on the south, but this was not 
accomplished without opposition from others who wished to 
possess the soil. The tirst and most persistent opponent of 
English settlement was the Indian, who for years vainly en- 
deavored to check the advance of the white man. But there 
were also European rivals and competitors. The Dutch had 
established themselves in the Hudson and Delaware valleys 
but they were overcome and out of their territory grew the 
middle English colonies. To the far south the Spaniards held 
Florida and with the aid of Indian allies they vainly attempted 
to destroy the infant life of the Carolinas and Georgia. In 
all these conflicts the English proved masters, but they were 
yet to meet their greatest rival for the possession of North 
America. It remained for the French seriously to contest the 
possession of the continent. 

The '* Glorious Revolution " of 16S8. which overthrew the 
despotic James II in England and his willing servant Sir Ed- 
mund Andros in Xew England, ushered in. under the reign of 
William and Mary on the English throne, a long period of 
strife with France, now the leading power in Europe. Both 
nations were struggling for supremacy on the sea and in 

105 



io6 



STUDENTS HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the lands beyond the sea, and America was one of the chief 
prizes of contest for seventy-five years. France and England 
were natural rivals and enemies ; they differed in race, in re- 
ligion, and in political ideals. In America their hostility was 
intensified by friction along the border of English and Frencli 
settlements and by contact with the Indians whom one people 
or the other incited to deeds of horror. The animosities were 
fvirther intensified by the desire to possess the great jNIississippi 
valley, toward which both nations were looking with covetous 
eyes. 

New France. While England had been busy in planting- 
colonies along the coast. France had not been idle. In 1605, 
two years before the founding of Jamestown, the French 
had made permanent settlements at Port Royal in Acadia 
(now Nova Scotia). The adventurous Champlain had as- 
cended the St. Law- 
rence River as Car- 
tier had done three- 
quarters of a century 
before, and penna- 
nent trading posts 
were soon estab- 
lished at Quebec and 
Montreal. Pushing 
farther to the south 
and west. Champlain 
discovered, in 1609. 
the lake that bears 
his name, and six 
years later he 
searched along .the 
shores of Lake Huron for the elusive South Sea passage. 

The French and Iroquois. In 1609 Champlain. in order 
to please his Indian neighbors upon the St. Lawrence and 
to explore the country to the south of the lakes, accom- 
panied a band of warriors and moved against the powerful 




CHAMPLAIX PEFE-XTIXG THE IROOrOIS 




FRF.XCH POSTS AXD FORTS AT THl". UKO 




In lMt<) 



Kr, oi- rill-: i-i>:i;wii wd ixdi ax w.vr 



FRENCH AND IX 01 AX WARS 



107 



Iroquois Indians vvho lived in the Hudson and Mohawk \allovs. 
which wore the jiateway into the heart of the continent. \\ iih 
his white followers, and by means of hrearnis, he put to rout a 
band of braves belonging to a confederacy of the Iroquois, 
called the Five Nations. Ry this act he brought upon the 
l>ench in America the inveterate hatred of the Iroquois who 
were perhaps the most highly civilized of the North American 
Indians, except the Aztecs in Mexico, and who were known 
and feared by all the siurounding tribes. 

Descent of the Mississippi. Chaniplain had leil the way into 
the region of the Great Lakes and other settlers soon followed. 
By the middle of the seventeenth 
century all the Great Lakes had 
been explored by the French dis- 
coverers, soldiers, traders, and 
priests who bore the banner of 
IVance and the cross of the 
church far into the western wil- 
derness. In 1073 Father Mar- 
quette (^niar'ket'\ a devout 
Catholic missionary, in company 
with Joliet (zho'le-a'), an ex- 
l^lorer and trader, reached the 
Mississippi by way of the Fox 
and Wisconsin Rivers aiid drift- 
ed southward in a boat for hun- 
dreds of miles. They passed the 
muddy Missouri and the dear 
water of the Ohio and terminated 
their journey at the mouth of the 
Arkansas. ' ^'"^'^'^* ^'^"' "'-'- "^'^ 

In ioSj La Salle, another statue of marqvette 

Frenchman, completed the work thus begun and followed the 
Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Disembarking at the mouth 
of the river. La Salle took possession of the vast central basin 
watered bv the river and its tributaries and named it Louisi- 





io8 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




LA SALLE 



ana in honor of his king, Louis XIV, " The Grand Monarch," 
of France. The explorer reahzed that in order to hold this 

imperial domain it was necessary 
to establish a series of military 
and trading posts. At his re- 
quest Louis XIV furnished him 
with ships, men, and supplies to 
make a settlement at the mouth 
of the Mississippi River. But 
the navigator missed his reck- 



oning and went too far to the 
westward and landed, in 1685, 
on the coast- of what is now 
Texas. ^ . A settlement, Fort St. 
Louis, was made on Matagorda 
Bay as a base from which to 
search for the Mississippi. La 
Salle, with a few followers, un- 
dertook to reach a French fort at the mouth of the Illinois 
River. On this journey he was murdered by one of his com- 
panions somewhere in Texas.^ 

King William's War. Before France could profit by the 
discoveries of La Salle and obtain a foothold in the Missis- 
sippi valley, she was plunged into a war with England. 
Louis XIV aided the deposed James II of England in an un- 
successful attempt to regain his throne and this precipitated 
the war. This war was known in Europe as the war of the 
" Grand Alliance," ( 1 689-1 697), and was called in the colonies 
" King William's War." In this country the strife began 
with an attack by the Indians, inspired by the French governor, 
Frontenac, on the English settlements along the northern bor- 
der. The towns of Dover in New Hampshire and Schenectady 
in New York were destroyed by these savage marauders.^ 

1 La Salle landed under the impression that he had found one of the 
mouths of the Mississippi River. 

- La Salle was murdered near where Navasota, Texas, now stands. 

2 Hannah Dustin, the wife of a farmer near Haverhill, was captured, 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 



109 



The colonies offered large prizes for Indian scalps and in a 
short time determined bands were scouring the country in 




LANDING OF LA SALLE ON THE TEXAS COAST 

search of the red men. Later, organized forces were sent 
out against the French and Port Royal was besieged and cap- 
tured by an English fleet with 1,800 militia. But in 1697 
peace was made between the two nations and England re- 
stored the fort to France. 

Queen Anne's War. The peace lasted only five years but 

and after seeing her home burned and her infant child beaten to death, 
she was hurried nortlnvard with several other captives into Canada. By 
a ruse she learned from one of the Indians how to use the tomaliawk 
as a weapon of deatli, and in the dead of night slie and two companions, 
a woman and a boy, killed their sleeping guards and escaped. Mrs. Dustin 
took the scalps from the slain Indians, and her exploit was rewarded with 
a tidy sum from the Massachusetts legislature. 



no STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

they were hardly years of peace in America, for along the bor- 
ders the French and the Indians continued the warfare by 
burning homes, slaughtering the settlers, and carrying women 
and children into captivity.. In 1702 England and nearly all 
the remainder of Europe were again at war with France, this 
time because the aggressive Louis XIV was trying to unite 
the crowns of France and Spain and thereby increase his power 
which was already a menace to all Europe. This war of the 
Spanish Succession ( 1701-1713), or " Queen Anne's War," as 
it was called in the colonies, was, in America, a continuation of 
Indian atrocities. The English settlers made another attack 
on Port Royal, which again surrendered and this time pos- 
session was retained. The peace of Utrecht, in 171 3, closed 
the war, and while France retained Canada and Louisiana, 
England forced an entering wedge into the French possessions 
by securing Acadia, Newfoundland, and the territory around 
Hudson Bay. This last named region had long been a bone 
of contention between the two nations on account of its 
facilities for trade. The name Acadia was changed to Nova 
Scotia and Port Royal was renamed Annapolis in honor of 
Queen Anne.^ 

Struggle for Possession. Both nations realized that the 
peace was only temporary and the great struggle for the pos- 
session of America was yet to come. TJiis: interval of truce 
was a period of expansion by both France and England. The 
English settled Georgia, and as immigration continued the 
older colonies were pushed westward to the crest of the Alle- 
■ ghenies and the colonists cast longing eyes upon the beautiful 
valley beyond. At the same time the French were realizing 
the dream of La Salle, and a long line of forts extended from 
Louisburg in the far north along the St. Lawrence and the lakes 
down the Mississippi to New Orleans at its mouth and even 
to Mobile. Chief among these forts were Niagara, Crown 

1 The French Acadians at first were permitted to remain in their homes, 
but later they were considered dangerous to British interests and were 
scattered through the settlements along the coast. Longfellow tells the 
stoi-y of the dispersion of the Acadians in his beautiful poem, Evangeline. 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 



III 



Point, Detroit, Vincennes, St. Louis, and New Orleans. The 
last named was founded by Bienville, a Frenchman, in 1718, 
and it became the metropolis of the great province of Louis- 
iana.^ The French were thus scattered over a vast space, 
while the English w^ere compactly hemmed in by the mountains 
and the sea. But the English had built up homes in the New 
World and had become practically self -supporting, while the 
French had established hardly more than a scries of garrisons 
and trading posts and were largely dependent on the mother 
country. 

King George's War. Another preliminary skirmish de- 
veloped in 1742, known to the colonies as " King George's 
War," which was an echo of the war of the Austrian Succes- 




SIECE OF LuUISi;URG 



sion ( 1 740-1 748) in Europe. The one great event of the war 
in America was the capture of the strong fort, Louisburg, on 
Cape Breton Island, commanding the entrance to the St. Law- 
rence. The New Englanders were amazed and indignant 

1 The Enplisli likewise had endeavored to make a settlement at the moutH 
of the Mississippi, but had licen turned back by the French at a bend 
in the river eighteen miles below New Orleans, still called English Turn. 



112 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



when, by the treaty of peace negotiated between the two nations 
in 1748, Louisburg, which their valor had won, was restored 
to France without their knowledge or consent. 

The Ohio Valley. Both France and England were awake 
to the immense importance of the Ohio valley which con- 
trolled the entrance to the very heart of Louisiana. In 1749 
a land company known as the Ohio Company was formed by 
some London merchants and leading Virginians for the pur- 
pose of settling the region west of the mountains. In the 
very same year the French sent an expedition southward from 
Lake Erie down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to take pos- 
session of the land and drive out the English traders. In 
" taking possession " proclamations of ownership were issued, 
and leaden plates engraved with the arms of France were 
sunk along the banks of the rivers and streams, and metallic 
plates likewise engraved were nailed to the trees. Later the 
French began the erection of a chain of forts in the Ohio re- 
gion and one of the most important of these was Fort 
Duquesne (du-kan') at the junction of the Allegheny and 
Monongahela (mo-non'ga-he'la) Rivers. It was this aggres- 
sion that started the 
great struggle in the 
colonies in 1754, 
known as the French 
and Indian War. 

Fight at Fort Ne- 
cessity. The governor 
of Virginia had dis- 
patched Major George 
Washington, adjutant- 
general of the colonial 
militia, an expert 
frontiersman and In- 
dian fighter, to remonstrate with the French against their 
encroachment on British property.^ But Washington had his 

^ Washington was a land surveyor at this time and was only twenty-one. 




WASHINGTON RETURNING FROM FORT 
^'I'-" . DUQUESNE 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 113 

dreary and perilous journey over the mountains and through 
tangled forests to no avail, for the French refused to withdraw. 
Troops, under the command of Washington, were then sent 
to force an abandonment, and a small fort known as Fort 
Necessity was erected at Great Meadows, a small valley in 
the mountain passes. Here the Virginians were besieged by 
an army of French and Indians of twice their number and they 
were compelled to surrender. 

Albany Congress. A few farsighted colonial leaders and 
the British Lords of Trade realized that the great struggle 
just beginning would not be confined like the preceding wars 
to New England and Canada, but that it would spread over 
a wide territory and involve practically all the colonies.^ 
Such being the case, some kind of union was regarded as nec- 
essary whereby the colonies could enlist men and raise money 
and make treaties to insure the aid of the mighty Iroquois 
Indians and thus defeat the common enemy. Accordingly a 
Colonial Congress was held in 1754, at Albany, a frontier 
town of 2,600 inhabitants. To this body a plan was presented 
by Benjamin Franklin providing for a president-general over 
all the colonies and a congress consisting of representatives 
from all.^ This plan of union was subject to the ratification 
of the king and of the separate colonies. The crown disap- 
proved it because it was too democratic, and the colonies re- 
fused to ratify it because they were too jealous of their rights 
and privileges to surrender any part of their power to a central 
government. 

Braddock's Defeat. France and England were at peace in 

1 The Lords of Trade were a committee in England who had control of 
colonial affairs. 

- Franklin was forty-eight years old at the time. A printer by trade, 
he had risen from a poor boy to a position of great prominence in the 
colonies. He made many useful inventions, among them a kind of open 
stove known as the " open Franklin." In 1752, in experimenting with a 
kite, he proved that lightning was a discharge of electricity. He is our 
best-known colonial writer and his wise sayings and homely maxims in 
Poor Richard's ^Ihuanac have become everyday expressions. For the 
remainder of his long life he was one of the most prominent men in 
American political affairs. 



114 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Europe but each was covetous of America and each dispatched 
troops to reenforce its colonies. General Braddock, a seasoned 
British veteran, was sent over with two regiments of British 
regulars to wrest Fort Duquesne from the French. Braddock 
was a courageous soldier, but he knew nothing of fighting In- 
dians, and he had too great a contempt for the raw colonial 
troops to take lessons from them. With his regulars and the 
Virginia militia under Colonel Washington, accompanied by 




DEATH OF GENERAL BRADDOCK 



fifty Indian scouts gay in war paint and feathers. Braddock 
marched against Fort Duquesne. He would not consent for 
the militia to follow their own experience and fight in Indian 
fashion b)' lurking behind trees and by stealthy surprise, but 
he drew them up in English line of battle and as they fired, 
seemingly at nothing, a hail of bullets was poured upon them 
from ambush. The English were panic-stricken and the army 
would have been completely destroyed had it not been that 
the Virginians, more experienced in such warfare, scattered 
and fought after the manner of the frontiersmen. Braddock 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 



115 



resisted bravely but this battle was his last. Four horses were 
shot under him and he fell, mortally wounded. Major Wash- 
ington, whose uniform was riddled with bullets, succeeded to 
the command, and he led a retreat which saved the remnant 
of the little army from utter annihilation. A skirmish along 
the northern frontier was likewise disastrous to the English 
forces. 

War in Europe. A full year after this vain effort on the 
part of the English to recover the Ohio country, England and 
France again became involved in war known in Europe as 
the "Seven Years War" (1756-1763). But, until 1758, 
defeat attended the English arms in America. Poor com- 
manders, lack of cooperation among the colonies, and hostility 
between the regulars and the " Buckskins," as the colonial 
troops were called, gave victory to the united French ably com- 
manded by the Marcjuis de 
]\Iontcalm and aided by 
their ever faithful Algon- 
quin allies. The turn in 
the tide came in 1758 
when the conduct of mili- 
tary affairs was placed in 
the hands of William Pitt, 
a great English statesman, 
vigorous, confident, a n d 
determined to win. 

Fall of French Strong- 
holds. The enemy's long 
line of defense extended 
from Louisburg to the 
Ohio valley and Pitt 
planned to break this de- 
fense at three places. 
Louisburg was attacked, 
and by the strength of the English navy and the skill of 
General Amherst and General Wolfe, the downfall of this 




GENERAL WOLFE 



no 



STUDEXTS HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



mighty fonress was accomplished in the smmiier of 175S. 
Fort Diiqiiesne. the key to the Ohio valley, fell before the 
attack of the combined Britisli regulars and colonial militia 
under General Forbes, with Colonel Washington leading a 
force of \"irginians.^ The attack on the French center, 
— Fort Frontenac and the Lake Chaniplain and the Lake 
George regions — was led by General Abercrombie aided by 
Lord Howe. At Ticonderog^a (^ti-kon-<le-ro'ga^ the British 
suffered defeat, but Fort Frontenac, which commandeil the 
outlet of Lake Ontario, fell into their hands. 

Fall of Quebec The entire French line of defense, with 
the exception of Ouel>^^, soon fell into the hands of the Eng- 
lish, and uiK>n General XW^lfe devolved the task of taking that 
stronghold. Situatet.1 on a high bluff rising almost venically 
from the river, the town could be easily approachetl only from 

one side and that was defendeil by 
the gTillant commander, Montcalm. 
After many months of unsuccessful 
siege Wolfe decided to tr\' another 
approach. At length he found a zig- 
.:ag jxithway up the cliff", and on a 
moonless niglit in September he 
moved his daring army up this 
height of over two hundred feet. 
The soldiers struggled along, hold- 
ing to bushes and tree stumps, and 
just at the peep of day they reachevl 
the high ground called the Plains of 
Abraham, and burst upon the as- 
tonished French defenders. After 
a brief and fierce engagement the 
English conquereil. but the two great generals of the 
French and Indian War were killeil in this cv^mbat. Both 




GEXER,\L XIOXTCAIM 



1 The name of Fort Duquo;;ne \va$ chai\jrt\l to Fort Pitt in honor of 
the Great Commoner. Fort Pitt was the beginning of Pittsburg. Pennsyl- 
\-ania. 



FRENCH AND IX 01 AN W ARS 



117 



Wolfe and Monicahn received mortal wouiuls. and both died 
w ithin a tew honrs, Wolfe, in his dying" nionienis, expressed 
satisfaction at having won the victory, and Montcalm, with 
his dyinij words, consoled himself that he would not live to 
see Onelxv pass into the hands of his foes. 

Peace of Paris. Quebec fell in 1759. Four years later 
France and England enterevl into a peace treaty at Paris, under 
tlie teniis of which EngUuid gained all of Canada and Louis- 
iana as far west as the Mississippi, except Xew Orleans. 
This city, with all of western Louisiana, France ceded to her 
ally. Spain, and this last-named country g'ave Florida to Eng- 




roXTU\C S FIRE RAFT &EXT POWX THE KHER TO DESTROY THE SHIPS 



land. The French possessions had disapi>eared and Great 
Britain was now the ruling colonial jx^wer of the Xew World. 
Henceforth the colonies were free from the fear of French 
in\-asion. and. relieved of this anxiety, they felt less and less 
their de{HMidence n|x^n the mother country-. 

Pontiac's Conspiracy. In the same year in which jx^ace was 
made between France and England, a great Indian conspiracy 
was fomied. The red men did not approve the change in 
masters, and Pontiac. the powerful chief of the Ottawas i^ot'ta- 



Il8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

waz), proposed a union of all the tribes to drive out the Eng- 
lish. His messengers, bearing a wampum belt and a red 
stained hatchet, enlisted all the tribes between the Allegheny 
and the Mississippi, and for two years there was a reign of 
terror along the western frontier. Garrisons were captured 
and their occupants were massacred, traders were waylaid in 
the forests and slaughtered, farmhouses were destroyed, and 
women and children were butchered in the most savage man- 
ner. Determined troops were sent out against the foe, and 
in 1765 Pontiac was compelled to sue for peace. Later he 
was murdered by one of his own race, and his body was buried 
in the soil where St. Louis now stands. With Pontiac con- 
quered, there was peace on the frontier for many years, 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. How did the Catholic Priest affect French colonization? 2. What 
part of America did the French claim? With what other claims did hers 
conflict? 3. Why should France be so anxious to control the Mississippi? 
4. In what respects were English settlers superior as colonists to the 
French? 5. What European dispute brought England and France into 
war? 6. Why should Louisburg and afterward Fort Duquesne be so im- 
portant? 7. Explain the attitude of the Iroquois in the French-English 
struggle. 8. Did the colonies do their part in these wars? 9. How was 
Washington educated? 10. Give the population of Canada and of the 
English colonics at the close of the struggle. 11. What was Pitt's policy 
of conducting the war? 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION : PRELIMINARIES OF THE 
REVOLUTION 

Throughout the long period of strife between France and 
England, the relations between the .Vmerican colonies and the 
British government on the whole were peaceful. The col- 
onists were loyal to the mother country, although they looked 
to her chiefly as a means of protection from foreign foes; 
and England, howe\-er much she desired to control the col- 
onies, was forced, first by civil strife and then by frequent 
foreign wars, to leave them largely to their own devices. This 
policy had developed in these transplanted Englishmen a de- 
\otion to civil liberty and a sense of independence nowhere 
equaled on the face of the globe. 

English Plans of Colonial Administration. Now that the 
French and Indian War was ended, the British government 
changed its policy toward the colonies and undertook to levy 
taxes upon them and govern them directly by acts of Parlia- 
ment. Pontiac's war had shown that the Indians were a seri- 
ous danger and that garrisons in the colonies were necessary 
for frontier defense, but England was heavily burdened by 
debt as a result of her conflicts with France and she deter- 
mined that the colonies should be taxed in a systematic man- 
ner to bear their share of the heavy expense of the British 
Empire. The colonists had always felt themselves eminently 
capable of managing their own affairs. In the long and 
bloody Indian wars they had successfully defended their set- 
tlements, and had enlisted and clothed nearly 25,000 men, 
thereby incurring a heavy burden of debt. The colonists had 
lost much of their respect for the regulars who had proved to 

119 



120 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

be no more effective in fighting than the colonial militia, and 
they deeply resented the contemptuous treatment of the " Buck- 
skins " by the regulars. 

King George III. In 1760 a new king came to the English 
throne, and he heartily indorsed the policy of Parliament 
in ruling the colonies. George III was a well-meaning man, 
but he had an exaggerated idea of his own importance and 
greatness, and he was resolved to exercise the utmost of royal 
power. " George, be a king " had been his mother's injunc- 
tion, and for years he had ridden down all opposition to his 
will at home and in the colonies. But in an effort to further 
exercise his power over his American subjects he lost for 
England, as we shall presently see, her fairest possessions be- 
yond the seas, and at home he was compelled to bow his head 
to the will of his subjects who demanded the exercise of the 
sovereignty that rests in the people. 

Trade and Navigation Acts. England's first act under the 
new policy was an attempt to enforce the laws of trade for 
controlling the commerce of her possessions. According to 
the ideas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, colonies 
existed only for the benefit of the mother country. As far 
back as the Commonwealth period, navigation acts had been 
passed for controlling the entire colonial trade for the benefit 
of English commerce, and at that time this was the spirit 
of all English laws of trade. Under these laws only English 
or colonial ships could transport merchandise ; the chief 
products of the colonies, tobacco, lumber, rice, iron, and furs 
could be shipped only to England ; imports to the colonies must 
come from English ports, and no article could be manu- 
factured in the colonies for export in competition with like 
articles manufactured in England. These acts bore heavily 
upon all the colonies, especially New York and the New Eng- 
land group, and their strict enforcement meant ruin to colonial 
trade and industry ; ^ but the colonies openly evaded them for 

1 Perhaps the hardest of the acts of trade was the Molasses Act of 1733 
bv which the colonists were forbidden to buy their sugar and molasses 
from the French West Indies. 



PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION 



121 



many years, and the mother country had tolerated the evasion 
because of her wars and other difficulties. 

Writs of Assistance. Now it was determined to enforce 
the trade acts, but the task was not easy. It was hard to se- 
cure evidence among the colonies of violations of these acts, 
and smuggled goods had a way of disappearing and escaping 
the vigilance of the British officers. In 1761 "writs of as- 
sistance " were issued to enable the customs officials of Boston 
to detect violations of the navigation acts. A writ of as- 
sistance was a sort of general search warrant good for an 
indefinite length of time, and it authorized officers to enter any 
warehouse or dwelling and ransack it from cellar to garret 
in search of smuggled articles. 

The people of Massachusetts resented this extraordinary 
process as a system of spying, and 
in a test case to determine the le- 
gality of the act, James Otis, a 
brilliant young Boston lawyer, re- 
signed the position of advocate 
(or prosecuting attorney) for the 
crown, to defend his countrymen 
of Massachusetts. In a fiery 
speech Otis declared the doctrine 
that " Taxation without representa- 
tion is tyranny," and that the colo- 
nies owed no respect to any law 
which they did not themselves 
enact. He denounced the odious 
writs of assistance as tyrannical 
measures which no act of Parlia- 
ment could make legal under the English constitution 
exercise of such power as this, he said, 
England his head and another his throne." The clarion note 
of James Otis was heard throughout the length and breadth 
of the land, but evidently it did not reach across the waters, 
or it was unheeded there, for the mother country still per- 




JAMES OTIS 

The 
had cost one king of 



122 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



severed in her harsh and selfish pohcy of trade control.^ 
The Parsons' Cause and Patrick Henry. A second and a 
louder, note of warning came — this time from Virginia — in 
Avhat is known as the " Parsons' Cause," which had no con- 
nection whatever with the Navigation Acts or with the writs 
of assistance. In Virginia tobacco was the legal medium 
of exchange, and all salaries were paid in this commodity. 
When the crop was short it worked a hardship on the people. 
Under an act of the Virginia Assembly passed in 1758, sal- 
aries were fixed in money at the rate of two pence per pound 
of tobacco. When the price of tobacco advanced there was 
no increase in salary. The salary of the ministers of the Es- 
tablished Church, or the " parsons," as the ministers were com- 
monly called, had been sixteen hundred pounds of tobacco. 
The ministers of the colony were dissatisfied wdth this new 

arrangement, and appealed to 
England to recover the difference 
between their new salaries and the 
amount which they would have 
received at the current price of 
tobacco. The crown veto'ed the 
tobacco act and the clergymen 
brought suit in the local courts. 
In this action Patrick Henry, a 
young lawyer, defended the col- 
ony, and in a speech to the jury 
he asserted that the veto had been 
exercised w'ithout regard to Vir- 
ginia's welfare, and he declared 
that George III, in annulling the 
act of the Virginia assembly, had played the part of the 
tyrant and had forfeited all right of obedience from his sub- 
jects. The jury gave the judgment for one penny which, 
w^as, of course, in effect a denial of the suit and in its political 
bearins" a defiance of the crown. 




PATRICK HENRY 



1 Similar writs of assistance were used in England at this time. 



PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION 123 

The Stamp Act. Despite the warning of these protests and 
acts of resistance the EngHsh government continued in its 
resolution to raise revenue in the colonies. Upon the recom- 
mendation of Lord Grenville, the prime minister, Parlia- 
ment enacted, in 1765, the Stamp Act, which provided that 
revenue stamps should be affixed to all legal documents, news- 
papers, wills, etc., and that the money accruing therefrom 
should be used for colonial defense.^ It will be seen that the 
revenue thus raised was to be devoted to the colonies, but 
they resisted the right of England to tax them and joined 
issue directly on the principle that they should control their 
own affairs. The colonists always maintained that the power 
of laying taxes for revenue in the colonies belonged to each 
colonial government and not to the English Parliament, for 
they were not represented in that body, and could not well 
be, as it sat thousands of miles away. The view advanced 
by the British, that they were as fairly represented by the Eng- 
lish members as the great majority of English people were, 
seemed to the colonists utterly absurd ; the American idea was 
that each member of the colonial legislatures represented a 
body of people living in some definite area, and the English idea 
was that the members of Parliament represented the different 
classes of society in the British Empire. At the same time 
the Stamp Act became a law, the Quartering Act was 
passed under which the colonists were obliged to furnish 
quarters and provisions to British troops stationed among 
them in time of peace. This law added more fuel to the 
rapidly rising flame of discontent. 

Beginning of Revolt. Opposition to the Stamp Act burst 
forth in a storm of fury. It was not so much the amount or 
the form of the tax that provoked resistance, as that it was con- 
trary to the American principle of self-government for a people 
to be taxed by a legislative body in which they were not repre- 
sented. Resolutions declaring opposition to the Stamp Act 
and proclaiming the American principles of taxation and rep- 

1 A similar Stamp Act was in effect in England. 



124 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

resentation were adopted by the Massachusetts assembly. In 
Virginia, Patrick Henry was the author of a series of resolu- 
tions declaring that taxation without representation was a 
menace to freedom and that the people of Virginia were not 
bound to obey any law which Parliament might pass without 
their consent, and he closed his memorable speech in which 
he presented these resolutions with the historic words, " Caesar 
had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III — ." 
" Treason, Treason," was shouted by some excited members 
of the assembly, who jumped to their feet, but Henry con- 
tinued without hesitation — " may profit by their example. If 
this be treason, make the most of it." These resolutions were 
adopted by the Virginia assembly and were distributed broad- 
cast throughout the colonies. 

Stamp Act Congress. In October, 1765, the Stamp Act 
Congress was assembled in New York, Only nine of the 
colonies were represented by delegates, but the sentiment of 
all thirteen was unanimous in opposing the hated measure. 
Dread of the Indians and fear of the French had not been 
sufficient to bring the colonies into close union, but when they 
believed their liberties were threatened they came together in- 
stantly and with a determined purpose to make common 
resistance. The Congress drew up a declaration of rights and 
grievances and petitioned Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. 
There was no threat of revolt, but the resolutions were a strong 
hint to England that she might strain the endurance of the 
colonies to the breaking point. 

Riot and Boycott. Popular opposition to the Stamp Act 
was not so dignified as the formal resolutions of the Congress. 
In many towns there were riots; mobs seized the revenue 
stamps and burned them or threw them into the sea. The 
revenue officials were forced to resign their offices and non- 
importation societies, called the " Sons of Liberty," were 
organized under pledges to resist the obnoxious law and to 
boycott English goods. When the day came for the law to 
go into effect newspapers appeared with a death's head where 



PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION 125 

the stamp was supposed to be, bells were tolled and flags 
floated at half-mast/ 

Repeal of the Stamp Act. There was stern resistance in the 
English Parliament to this act. The great Pitt and a group 
of liberal English statesmen contended for the same rights 
which the Americans asserted. They openly espoused the 
cause of the colonists and urged the repeal of the law. After 
a fierce debate of three months the Stamp Act was repealed 
in 1766, but at the same time another act was passed declaring 
the right of the British government to tax the colonies. This 
was known as the " Declaratory Act." In America the repeal 
of the Stamp Act was received with the wildest joy. There 
were celebrations in every town and there were widespread 
expressions of loyalty to King George III. 

Townshend Acts. The very next year after the repeal of the 
Stamp Act the cjuarrel over taxation l)roke out afresh. A new 
British ministry had been formed with Charles Townshend 
as its leader. He was determined that the Declaratory Act 
should be put into effect, and King George indorsed his 
policy. Through Townshend's influence Parliament laid im- 
port duties on tea, glass, paper, lead, and a few other articles 
imported into the colonies. The proceeds from these duties 
were to be used to pay the salaries of the royal governors 
and other colonial officers appointed by the crown, in order 
that the colonial legislatures could exercise no control what- 
ever over them. The same Parliament enacted another law 
which dissolved the New York assembly because that body 
refused to provide quarters for the British troops. A great 
wave of indignation spread over the land from New Eng- 
land to Georgia. Samuel Adams drew up for the Massa- 
chusetts assembly a petition to the king and a bold circular 
letter to all the colonists urging cooperation in protest. Vir- 
ginia, too, appealed for united action and boycotts were again 

1 Women also formed societies, known as the " Daughters of Liberty," 
for the same purpose. No mutton was eaten tliat the wool might go to 
make cloth, and the wealthiest citizens appeared in homespun by way of 
example against the use of British goods. 



126 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



instituted among the people against the use of English goods. 
The Boston Massacre. The king ordered the circular letter 
to be suppressed, and, by way of answer to the petition of 
^Massachusetts, he sent troops to Boston to enforce the Town- 
shend Acts. The presence of the soldiers in the town irritated 
the people beyond measure and the '* Red Coats," as the Eng- 
lish soldiers were called, were subjected to taunts and jeers. 
At last one evening in ^larch, 1770. after the soldiers had 




rO?TOX MA; 



been quartered in Boston about a year and a half, a crowd of 
citizens attacked them with sharp pieces of ice and stones. 
The soldiers fired into the crowd and three persons were killed 
and several others were wounded. The prompt arrest of the 
soldiers who fired the shots was all that prevented a terrible 
encounter between the troops and the citi;^ens. Immediately 
a mass meeting was assembled in Faneuil Hall which proved 
to be too small to accommodate all who attended, and the 



PRELLMIXARIES OF THE REX'OLUTIOX 



12: 



meeting was transferred to the Old Sonth Church, where 
Samuel Adams, in a tiery speech, demanded that the troops be 
remo\ed from 
the city.' As a 
temporary expe- 
dient the}' were 
remc^ved to a 
little island in 
Boston Harbor 
and the town re- 
joiced when the 
hated " Lobster 
Backs." another 
name for the 
English troops, 
were seen no 
m ore a m o n g 
them. 

English Oppo- 
sition to Town- 
shend Acts. 
There was op- 
position to the 
king's policy in England as well as in America. The refusal of 
the Americans to import English goods had a serious ettect 
upon business in London and the English merchants began to 
clamor for the repeal of the acts in restraint of trade. In 
April. 1770, before the news of the " Boston Massacre "' had 
reached England. Parliament removed all the Townshend taxes 
except that on tea. which was retained through the insistence of 
the stubborn and misguided king. " There must be one tax to 
keep the right to tax." said George. These concessions failed 
to satisfy the protesting colonies, and. besides, the soldiers were 
retained in Boston Harbor. 

^ Faneiiil Hall was a market liou>e ami a public fathering place erected 
by Peter Faneuil as a gift to the community. It was almost completely 
destroyed by fire in 1761. but it was rebuilt in 1763 by the town of Boston. 




FAXEflL HALL 



128 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

The Battle of Alamance. There was a lull for the next two 
or three years in the quarrel between the colonies and the 
mother countr}% but the discontent within the colonies did not 
cease ; in some of them it took form in armed resistance. 
North Carolina was the scene of the most serious disturbances, 
known as the " War of the Regulators." In this colony civil 
power was centralized in the hands of the governor and a 
few leaders who imposed heavy taxes and other burdens 
upon the people. The settlers in the back country formed an 
association known as the " Regulators " for the purpose of 
upholding their rights ; and, peaceful means having failed, 
they rose in revolt against this centralized power. Governor 
Tryon and his followers, who were known as " Moderators," 
marched against the settlers with more than a thousand mili- 
tia. They met in the bloody battle of Alamance, Alay i6, 
1771. Here the Regulators were defeated, and seven of their 
number were hanged as outlaws. Many of the settlers of 
the back country, despairing of obtaining justice, moved west- 
ward and carved out new homes in the wilderness of what is 
now Tennessee. This struggle in North Carolina set the 
minds of men generally upon armed resistance to Great 
Briteiri.^ 

Committees of Correspondence. Quarrels over the pay- 
ment of colonial officials sent out by England caused ill feeling 
to become more and more intense. In jMassachusetts, Samuel 
Adams organized committees of correspondence which under- 
took to keep all the towns in the colony advised of the progress 
of the movements in resistance to English policy.^ The Vir- 
ginia House of Burgesses went further, and in 1773 adopted 

1 The people of Virginia had urged that the importation of slaves into 
their colony be stopped, but King George III. in the interest of British 
merchants and sailors, forbade interference with the traffic. This intensi- 
fied indignation in Virginia. 

- Samuel Adams was one of the foremost figures in the early stages 
of the American Revolution. He was a fearless man, a firm believer in 
constitutional liberty, and a born leader of the masses. He saw almost 
from the outset that a quarrel with the mother country would end in sepa- 
ration and he was largely responsible for shaping public opinion to that end. 



PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION 129 

resolutions for the organization of committees of correspond- 
ence among the colonies. 

The Tea Tax. At this critical time, when the colonies were 
prepared to act together easily and quickly by means of the 
committees of correspondence, the king revived the question of 
taxation. The tax on tea had not been repealed, but it com- 
manded no revenue because the colonists refused to use tea 
shipped from England and what they required was smuggled in 
by Dutch traders. George III, with Lord North as his ready 
tool, decided by a clever arrangement to help the English East 
India Company, which was in sore straits as a result of the 
loss of colonial markets, and at the same time beguile the 
Americans into drinking English tea. By this ruse he hoped to 
commit the colonists to a recognition of the principle of taxa- 
tion by the crown. But George had not reckoned on the re- 
sources of Yankee shrewdness. The King's plan was to have 
the duty remitted at the English ports on tea shipped to the 
colonies where the duty was to be paid, but the tax was so 
slight that the price of tea plus the duty was less than the price 
of smuggled tea. 

The Tea Party. Cargoes of tea were sent to Philadelphia, 
Charleston, New York, and Boston late in the fall of 1773. 
Immediately excited meetings of citizens were held at all 
these points to decide what was to be done. In Charleston 
the tea was stored in a warehouse where it rotted. In Phila- 
delphia and New York the ships were sent back to England 
without being permitted to unload their cargoes. At Boston 
three tea-laden ships were riding at anchor in the harbor, but 
the citizens watched day and night to prevent the discharge 
of their cargoes. At length one clear, cold night in December 
an Indian w^ar-whoop pierced the air and instantly a band of 
fifty persons, disguised as Mohawk Indians, rushed through 
the c{uiet town down to the harbor, boarded the ships, and 
dumped the tea, bale after bale, into the sea. This drastic 
action in Boston was greeted with |)ublic rejoicing throughout 
the thirteen colonies. The Americans were determined not 



I30 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



to receive tea or anything" else that bore the ParHamentary 
tax. 

The Intolerable Acts. The colonists had thus flatly refused 
to obey the taxation laws of Parliament; they would respect 
only such taxes as were levied by their own legislatures, and 
they recognized no legislative or civil authority other than 




BOSTON TEA PARTY 



their own local governments. The irate monarch was de- 
termined to make an example of Massachusetts and humble 
the Americans once for all. Parliament passed in quick suc- 
cession four acts known in America as the " Intolerable 
Acts." First, the port of Boston was closed to the commerce 
of the world until the tea was paid for, and English warships 
were required to maintain a blockade of the port. Second, 
the charter of Massachusetts was annulled and free govern- 
ment in that colony was destroyed. Third, all persons accused 
of certain crimes must be sent to England for trial. Fourth. 
troops were to be quartered on the people of Boston. Almost 



PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION 



131 



immediately after the passage of these acts General Thomas 
Gage appeared in Boston to set up a military government to 
force the people into submission.^ 

From all quarters of America came expressions of sympa- 
thy and proffers of aid by 
friends of the " Old Bay 




ed to arm and 
equip 1,000 men 
at his own ex- 
pense and march 
tu the relief of 
Boston. Provi- 
sions of all sorts 
were sent to the 
city and Salem of- 
fered the use of i'*^^ston and vicinity, showing I'itcairn's route 

her wharves free of charge to the Boston merchants. All 
the thirteen colonies realized that their own liberties were 
in danger and that Boston was suffering in a common 
cause. As a consequence of all this oppression and all this 
popular indignation, a general congress of the colonies was 
assembled in Philadelphia in 1774. This was not a body of 

1 Another cause of irritation was the Quebec Act, by which the French 
people in the Quebec region received a grant of religious freedom and 
local self-government in accordance with the agreement made at the 
Peace of Paris in 1763. The act also extended the boundaries of Quebec 
southward to include the land between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, 
which interfered with the claims of the coast colonies. The American 
colonists interpreted this act as an example of the absolute rule of the 
monarch. 



132 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



government; it was only a meeting for consultation. The 
delegates drew up a declaration of rights which was sent to 
the king and a new boycott association was formed in which 
all the colonies pledged themselves not to import goods from 
England. The First Continental Congress was in session 
seven weeks and adjourned to meet in May, 1775, provided 
there was no redress of grievances in the meantime. 

Lexington and Concord. While awaiting an answer from 
the crown to the declaration of rights, preparations were made 
throughout the colonies for armed resistance to the coercive 
acts. In Massachusetts, in particular, events were rapidly ap- 
proaching a crisis. General Gage, in command at Boston, was 

appointed royal governor 
for the colony of Massa- 
chusetts, but his author- 
ity was ignored beyond 
the city. The people 
still maintained their 
own legislature just as if 
their charter had not 
been annulled ; arms 
were collected, bands of 
minute-men were organ- 
ized in every town, and 
military drills were held 
quietly at eventide on 
the village greens. Gen- 
eral Gage determined to 
seize the ammunition 
that the colonists had 
collected and to arrest 
the popular leaders, 
Samuel Adams and John 
Hancock, and send them to England for trial. On the night 
of April 18, 1775, a body of eight hundred regulars was sent to 
Lexington to arrest the leaders and to move on to Concord and 




OLD NORTH CHURCH 



PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION 



133 



capttire the stores which the colonists had collected there. The 
British had taken every precaution for secrecy but the vigilance 
of the patriots was equal to the occasion. Paul Revere, a 
valiant son of liberty, at the signal from the belfry of the 
North Church galloped forth into the night, shouting at every 
door, as he dashed along, the thrilling news, the " British 
are coming." ^ The regulars reached Lexington in the early 
morning to find a determined little band of minute-men await- 
ing them. " Disperse, ye villains," shouted Major Pitcairn in 
command of the advance guard of the British, but the Amer- 




RETREAT OF THE BRITISH FROM CONCORD 



icans stood as motionless as a stone wall and immediately the 
firing began.- When the smoke lifted seven patriots were 
lying dead and a great many others were wounded. The pa- 
triots were compelled to fall back and the regulars moved on to 
Concord, but most of the stores had been hidden and the Eng- 
lish encountered a large militia force who gave stubborn re- 



sistance. 

Retreat to Boston. 



The British were compelled to retreat 



1 See Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere. 

2 It has never been determined which side fired tlic first 



diot. 



134 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



to Boston and at every point on the way tliey were assailed 
from behind houses, fences, and trees by patriot soldiers 
armed with such weapons as they could secure. A deadly 
fire was poured upon the Heeing- troops until they found i)ro- 
tectidu under the guns of the ships in Boston Harbor. The 
British had lost 273 ; the Americans, only 93. When the news 
of Lexington and Concord spread throughout New England, 
men seized whatever weapons they had and hastened toward 
Boston. Within a few weeks there were 16,000 patriot sol- 
diers ready for organization and action. The report of these 
engagements spread quickly to the other colonies and soon 
the whole country was in rebellion. Not a royal governor 
was to be found in the land. 

Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Exactly three weeks after 

the battle of Lexington the 
strong fortress of Ticon- 
deroga, which guarded the 
entrance to Canada, was sur- 
rendered to Ethan Allen and 
his " Green Mountain Boys," 
w ho demanded it in the name 
of the "Great Jehovah and 
the Continental Congress," ^ 
Crown Point also fell into the 
/L'\i\/ " " ■^liifi/INfr*!' I lands of the Vermonters. 
/k.''¥ ^.^MirX'J! The captured stores from 

these two points were dragged 
across the country to the mili- 
tia at l)Oston. h'.than Allen's 
allusion to the Continental 
Congress was an anticipation, 
for as a matter of fact the Congress was just then assembling 

1 Tlie Green Mountain coiuilry was claimed by both New Hampsliire 
and New York and there was bitter contention between tlie two colonies. 
The people in this region refused to recognize the authority of either 
colony and organized themselves into a separate colony which later be- 
came the state of Vermont. 




i'ki.i.iMi.\ARi):s OF 'I'lir; in:voi.i"i fo.\ 135 

■'iii'i li;i<l )iot yet or^aiii/.cl or <.oniiiii-/iioiic'l < omiiiaii'lcr'i of 
Iroojjh. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

(. Name home lca<liii}< colonial txijorth and lluir destination. 2, Com- 
pare Eiiu\dH(i\ trade with the colonieh in 1704 and 1772. (Stte Hurke's 
Speech on Conciliation.) 3, Why did the " I'arhon's Cause " aroiihe sueh 
indignation in Virginia? 4, What wan the first declaration of independ- 
ence against England? 5, What was the Quartering Act? Is there any- 
thing in our ConHtitution hearing on the suhject? 6. What was a " Rotten 
I'oroiigh"? 7, What was the Hnglishman's view of representation? The 
American's? H. Why was there so nnicji disconlenlinent in JCn>/land at 
this lime? What has that dibcontentment led to? 



CHAPTER IX 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION I THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



The Second Continental Congress. On May lo, 1775, the 
Second Continental Congress met at Independence Hall in 
Philadelphia, drew up another declaration of rights, and sent 
another petition by special messenger across the waters to 

King George ; ^ but hostilities had 
already begun and the delegates to 
the new Congress found themselves 
compelled to prepare for action. 
A call was issued for recruits 
from the colonies to reen force the 
struggling militia around Boston 
[and constitute an army. George 
Washington, easily the foremost 
military figure of the colonies, who 
even then sat in the Congress in his 
uniform, was appointed comman- 
der-in-chief. This was a happy 
choice, for all men respected and 
trusted the illustrious Virginian. 
They remembered how in his stal- 
wart young manhood he had performed with daring and skill 
the dangerous mission to the Ohio valley, and how his courage 
and strategy had saved Braddock's little army from annihila- 
tion in the bloody fight at Fort Duquesne. Later Congress au- 
thorized a navy and the operation of privateers to attack the 
merchant ships of Great Britain. 

1 This Congress was a body of delegates assembled as a conference but 
not as a law-making body. 

136 




^» Y 



GENERAL WASHINGTON 



76 Loii|,MtuJe 71" Wesi 



t fiom 72' Greenwich 70 




-KKVOLlTlOXAin' W \k— CWMI'AK^.XS I X '|-H|.: XORTII 



THE WAR I-N THE NORTH 



^37 



Battle of Bunker Hill. Before the newly appointed com- 
mander-in-chief could reach Boston the British and the mil- 
itia had met in a stuhborn fight. Boston was well fortified, 
and in May, 1775, General Gage had been strongly recn forced 
by regulars under Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, and 
the only danger that threatened the British ])osition was the 
group of surrounding hills from which the patriots might 
cannonade the city. General 
Gage undertook to possess 
some of these dangerous 
heights, but the Americans an- 
ticipated his purpose. On the 
nigiit of June 16, a force of 
1,500 patriots under Colonel 
Prescott advanced past Bun- 
ker Hill in Charlestown and 
fortified Breed's Hill, which 
commanded a better vantage 
ground of resistance to the on- 
coming of the British. All 
night long they toiled faith- 
fully and early morning light 
revealed their earthworks to 
the astonished British. Gen- 
eral Howe and 3,000 regulars 
attempted to take the hill by 
assault. Twice the courageous 
English soldiers dashed up the 
hill only to be repulsed by the deadly fire of tiic patriot marks- 
men. On the third charge the Americans f(nni(l their pow- 
der exhausted and although they fought back the enemy for 
a short time with stones and their gun-stocks, they were 
compelled finally to yield. The British gained the fort, but 
this fight, known to history as the Ikittle of I>unker Hill, 
had cost them fully one-third of their number and they real- 
ized something of the pluck and determinalion of these Auier- 




BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 



138 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



jcan rchcls. Snbdnin^ siidi men was no summer's holiday.' 
Washington and the Army. On July 3, followinj^, under a 
great elm on the Cambridge common, Washington formally 
assumed commanrl of Ihe patriot army. While his troo])S had 
already engaged in a valiant light, still the army was without 

organization or 
disc-ipline, a n d 
Washington la- 
|joi-c(l for man)' 
nionlhs to c<jn- 
v( It his raw mil- 
ilia into an ef- 
fective fighting 
lna(•hinc^ J' i' o - 
visions, amnin- 
n i t i o n , and 
clothing were se- 
cured ; a 11 ni- 
forni of huff 
and blue was 
adopted, and re- 
jj e a t e d drills 
were held from day !<; day. l>y the beginning of the new year 
the first American Hag floated over the ]ieadf|iiarlers at Cam- 
bridge, but the waiting army saw winter melt into spring 
before Washington was ready to strike another blow at 
l>oslon. 

Unsuccessful Attack on Canada. While Wasliington's army 
was drilling before Boston, a daring expedition was directed 
against Canada for the purpose of preventing invasion of the 
colonies fr(;m the north. (General Richard .Montgomery, who 
had served inider Wolfe at Ouebec, led about J, 500 men into 
Canada by the Lake CJhampIain route and t<Jok possession of 
Montreal, lienedict Arn(.»ld in the meantime had made a diffi- 
enlt niarch through the Maine wilderness in the dead of winter 

^ Sec Holiiios's ixjfiii, (j'fdiKluKillicr's Story. 















i- 




'^ 






w 


sl 


TTifmtS^, 


m4 


0- 


B^BB 


^^^H 


^j3| 


IL— 


HBe* '• .'-'Mi 


IH 


H 


1^ 


"^"^;^ 




„ 


W^WWWBB 



WARIirNGTON EI.M AT CAMHIUIJCE 



Till-; WAR IN TIIK NORTH ly) 

at the cost of about one-third of his men. With only a scant 
seven hundred men he waited before (Juebcc f(jr M(Mitgomery 
and on the last day of the year 1775, in a bhntUn^ snowstorm, 
tlie htlle ariuy, only about 1,200 stronj4-, attacked the fortress. 
Montj^omery was killed and Arnold was severely wounded, and 
in spite oi the most desperate bravery the Anieiicans were 
repulsed. 

Operations in the South. Par to the soulliward the colonies 
were aflame with ])atriotic zeal. On the first day of 1776, 
N'orffjlk was burned by tlie fleet of Lord Dunniore, the royal 
j.;overnor, wluj thus retaliated for his expulsion by the Vir- 
j^inians. 'This piece of wanton destruction loused Virginia 
and all America to more intense resistance. In North Car- 
olina the patriot cause was victorious in the oi)ening month-* 
of tiiis memoiable year. The koyalists, or ICnglish 8ym[)athiz- 
ers, were strong in the C'arolinas and Georj^ia, and Sir Henry 
Clinton was sent from Pxjston to the Cape Kear River before 
the close of January, to c(j6perate with these sympathizers and 
to rest(jre rrjyal authority in the South. The patriots, about 
i.CKJO in number, under Colonel James Mocjre, ttjok position 
at Moore's Creek i>ridge where the loyalists must pass on tlieir 
way to the coast. Here, on l''ebruary 27, a fierce battle oc- 
curred in vvliich the Americans were victorious; tluy captured 
a ^reat cpiantity of military supplies and nine hundred Njyalist 
prisoners, with their commander. .Soon io,(x«j men were 
anne<l and ready U) march t(; the coast to expel the invader, but 
Clinton decided not to stop at Cape I'car. 

Boston Evacuated. While these events were occinrmj^ ni 
the .South, Washington, still waiting before l'>oston, deter- 
mined in the early spring to make another attempt to drive 
(Hit the I'ritish. On the night of .March 3, 1776, with 2,of)0 
men, he seized and ffjrtilied an ennnence s(nilh oi I'oston 
kn<nvn as l)(jrchester Heights. All night IcMig the Americans 
kept up an incessant caimonade frc^m Washington's camp at 
Cambridge in onWr to drown the noise of nujving armies 
and the scnuid of pick and hammer. 'I'he next morning the 



I40 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

British were as much surprised as on the morning of the 
Bunker Hill battle to see the American fortifications frowning 
upon them. This time the attack came from the south. Gen- 
eral Howe evacuated the town, and by ]March 17 he was under 
sail for Halifax. The stores and supplies he left behind en- 
riched the patriot camp at Cambridge. Thus at one brilliant 
stroke \\*ashington cleared New England of the enemy. 

Declaration of Independence. Thus far the colonies had 
been struggling primarily to maintain their rights as subjects 
of the British crown. It was not their contemplation to set 
up an independent government but to govern themselves as a 
part of the British empire. However, when the news came 
that the king had contemptuously rejected their petition for 
peaceable redress of grievances, had denounced them as rebels 
and traitors, and had hired foreign soldiers — the hated 
Hessians — to reduce them to submission, then the colonists 
abandoned all hope of reconciliation and began seriously to pre- 
pare to establish their independence.^ The several colonies 
realized that they must act in concert, for none was strong 
enough to act alone with hope of success. As Benjamin 
Franklin had humorously put it, " We must all hang together 
or we shall all hang separately." The Continental Congress, 
however, was only an advisory body and could not take such 
an important step as to declare independence without explicit 
instructions from the several colonies. 

To North Carolina belongs the honor of first instructing her 
delegates for independence. As early as May 31, 1775, the 
people of Mecklenburg County adopted resolutions of inde- 
pendence, and after the fight at Moore's Creek the sentiment 
had spread throughout all North Carolina. The sentiment 
also pervaded the people of Virginia, whose spirit of resistance 
was stiffened and whose animosity was deepened by the tyran- 

1 It was a common practice to employ foreign mercenaries in the wars 
of Europe, the services of such troops being usually sold by their prince. 
The Hessians receive their name from Hesse-Cassel, because it was from 
the prince of this state that the king of England secured a large number 
of his German mercenaries. 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



141 



nies of Lord Dnnmore. In a Virginia convention, Patrick 
Henry, the famous orator, declared, " An appeal to arms and 
to the God of hosts is all that is left ns. Is life so dear 
or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and 
slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know not what course 
others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give, me 
death." In response to this resolute sentiment, which reflected 
the will and purpose of the people, the Virginia convention 
instructed the delegates in Congress to propose that the united 
colonies be declared free and independent states. Some of the 
other colonies were of the same mind. 

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered in 
Congress the resolution " that these united colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent states." ^ John Adams of 
Massachusetts seconded the resolu- 
tion and a committee of five was 
appointed to draw up a Declaration 
of Independence. Thomas Jeffer- 
son, a youthful Virginian, was the 
leading member of this committee 
and he it was who drafted the im- 
mortal document. On July 4, 
1776, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was adopted and the 
united colonies became the United 
States of America. The news of 
the great event was proclaimed to 
the expectant people in the city of 
Philadelphia by the triumphant 

pealing of the Liberty Bell. The Declaration inspired the 
patriots with a renewed determination to commit their lives, 
their fortunes, and their honor to the sacred cause of liberty. 

1 Richard Henry Lee belonged to the famous Virginia family of Lees 
and was the father of Henry Lee, a distinguished cavalry leader of the 
Revolution known as "Light Horse Harry," and the grandfather of the 
great southern general, Robert Edward Lee. 




RICHARD IIENRV I.EE 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



143 



Moultrie at Charleston. While Congress was considering 
the subject of independence a sharp battle was fought in the 
South and victory crowned the American arms. After Sir 
Henry Clinton had passed by Cape Fear, he moved on south- 
ward, and in June attacked Charleston, South Carolina. 
Colonel Moultrie, in clefense of the American position, had con- 
structed a rude defense of 
])almetto logs and sand to 
l-Totect the city, and the balls 
from tile Britisli guns sank 
harmless into this fortifica- 
tion. During the bombard- 
ment the American flagstaff 
was cut by a cannon ball, the 
flag falling outside the fort, 
liras'e Sergeant Jasper leaped 
over the fortification in the 
midst of flying shot, gathered 
up the fallen banner, and 
again planted it on the bas- 
lion. The guns of the 
Americans did such deadly 
work on Clinton's vessels 
that he was compelled to 
withdraw his fleet and sail 
northward to cooj^erate with 
General Howe who was 
bearing down upon New York. For more than two years the 
southern states were free from molestation. 

Defense of New York. Having failed in New England 
and in the .South, the liritish planned to take the Hudson valley 
and thus divide the northern and the southern colonies in order 
that the British navy, which had control of the sea, might 
in turn subdue each section. Consequently, for the next two 
years the middle group of colonies bore the brunt of the war. 
General Washington anticipated the desire of General Howe 




MONUMENT TO SERGEANT JASPER 



144 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

to obtain possession of the mouth of the Hudson and moved 
his troops from Boston to New York in 1776. Forts Lee 
and Washington were built on opposite sides of the Hudson 
River above the city, and Brooklyn Heights, on Long Island, 
was fortified in order to command the approach from the sea. 
Generals Putnam and Sullivan were stationed there with about 
18,000 soldiers of the American army. New York's extensive 
water front made it difficult to hold without control of the sea, 
but Washington hoped to harass and delay the enemy as long 
as possible. 

Long Island Evacuated. The British fleet came down 
from Halifax with General Howe and 32,000 English veteran 
troops.^ This force was landed on Staten Island and in an 
attack on Sullivan's force on Long Island, Howe took 1,000 
American prisoners, including Sullivan himself, and then pre- 
pared to lay siege to Brooklyn Heights. Washington, realiz- 
ing that he could not hold his position, executed one of those 
brilliant movements for which he became famous. Silently, 
in the dead of night, his army with all its stores and artillery 
was ferried across East River to New York, leaving the Eng- 
lish to move upon empty earthworks. With the British in 
possession of Brooklyn Heights, Washington could not long 
remain in New York City and his next move was to fall back 
to Harlem Heights. Just as the rear guard of his army was 
leaving the city Howe was coming in. The two armies re- 
mained in this position without action for nearly two months. 
It was during this interval that Nathan Hale, a young Con- 
necticut captain, volunteered his services to Washington to go 
as a spy within the British lines to ascertain the plans and the 
strength of the enemy. He was betrayed by a Tory, or loyal- 
ist, kinsman and was hanged without trial. He died bravely 
with these words on his lips : " I regret that I have but one 
life to give for my country." Howe began an advance move- 

1 General William Howe was the brother of General Robert Howe, 
who was killed during the last French and Indian war, and who was 
admired by the Americans. 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 145 

ment and Washington retreated. There was skirmishing be- 
tween the two armies at Harlem Heights and White Plains. 
.Forts Washington and Lee fell into the hands of the British 
and Washington moved southward into New Jersey while 
General Howe returned to New York, which from that time 
until the close of the war was the refuge of the American 
Loyalists. 

The New Jersey Campaign. The next move of the British 
was toward Philadelphia. Washington had about 6,000 
troops on the Jersey side of the Hudson and General Charles 
Lee at another point on the river had been ordered to join 
him at once,^ but Lee did not move promptly; he was wilful 
and vainglorious, was jealous of Washington and thought he 
saw in the commander-in-chief's present difficulty an opportu- 
nity to improve his own fortunes. While Washington was 
retreating before the overpowering force of the enemy, Lee, 
aspiring to his place, perversely endeavored to embarrass him 
and wrote letters to Congress suggesting the commander-in- 
chief's removal. The outlook for the patriot cause at this 
time could not have been more discouraging. Lord Corn- 
wallis, to whom Howe had entrusted the Jersey campaign, 
was so confident of immediate victory and the complete collapse 
of American resistance that he was packing his effects ready 
to start home, for as soon as the Delaware River should freeze 
over so that the English troops might go across, he hoped to 
take the " rebel capital " at Philadelphia and end the contest 
at once. 

Financial Difficulties. Philadelphia was panic-stricken and 
the Congress fled. Many American soldiers had lost heart 
in the face of the repeated disasters and the army was dwin- 
dling day by day. Washington was compelled to pledge his 
own private fortune for the pay of the soldiers- and Robert 
Morris, the great financier of the Revolution, went from 

1 General Charles Lee was an English adventurer serving in the Amer- 
ican Army. He was not a member of the great Lee family of Virginia. 

2 Washington would never accept any compensation except his actual 
expenses during the war. 



146 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




ROBERT MORRIS 



house to house in Philadelphia borrowing money to maintain 
the American cause/ If it had not been for the financial 
ability and the perseverance of this man it is hardly pos- 
sible that the War of Independ- 
ence could have been sustained. 
Congress lacked the power to 
tax the people and it was always 
difficult to raise money by recjui- 
sitions on the States. Money had 
been borrowed from France and 
Holland ; Congress had also is- 
sued paper money or " promises 
to pay " ; ^ and the country faced 
in one crisis the peril of over- 
whelming numbers and the utter 
collapse of its credit. 

Trenton and Princeton. But 
in these " times that tried men's souls " there was one man 
whose courage never failed and whose faith never faltered, 
and when the hour was darkest he struck an unexpected blow 
that astonished the world and placed the name of Washing- 
ton among the great generals of all history. Washington 
was made military dictator for six months and under his 
administration of the army many volunteers were recruited. 
General Charles Lee had been captured and his forces were 
transferred to General Sullivan who joined Washington. 
Under these conditions the commander-in-chief resolved to 
strike. Crossing the Delaware on Christmas night, in 1776, 
the little army, heavily encumbered with baggage and strug- 

1 Robert Morris was a wealthy banker and merchant of Philadelphia. 
In spite of the fact that his business interests were endangered by the 
revolutionary measures, he gave himself heart and soul to the cause. He 
contributed liberally of his own money and raised money on his own 
credit time and again for the support of the Revolution. 

- Before the war closed this continental currency was practically worth- 
less. Corn was worth in this money $150 a bushel. Samuel Adams paid 
$2,000 for a suit of clothes and a hat. Hence the phrase current at that 
time, " not worth a continental." 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



147 



gling with the ice floes in the river, marched through the 
sleet and snow and fell unexpectedly upon a company of 
Hessians, who were sleeping off the effects of a Christmas 
carousal at Trenton, New Jersey. 
There was a short, sharp fight which 
lasted about three-c|uarters of an 
hour; the Hessians were whipped 
and about 1,000 prisoners were 
taken and a large 
supply of stores was 
captured. The Amer- 
ican loss was two 
killed, two frozen to 
death, and a number 
wounded. The cap- 




washington's campaign in the winter of lyjG-ijyj 

tured Hessians were paraded through the streets of Philadel- 
phia and the spectacle inspired the people to new zeal. 

After this unexpected battle Cornwallis abandoned his trip 
home and hurried to Trenton with a force of 8,000. " At last 
we have run down the old fox," he said, " and we will bag him 
in the morning." Washington realized that he could nut 



148 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



afford to risk a battle with the superior forces of the British 
under CornwalHs and he resolved upon another sudden and 
secret movement. Keeping his camp fires brightly burning 
all night and leaving a few men busily engaged in throwing 
up earthworks within hearing of the British sentinels, Wash- 
ington silently moved his- entire army around Cornwallis and 
made a midnight march to Princeton, where, on the morning 
of January 3, 1777, he surprised and defeated a force of three 
British regiments. Cornwallis immediately started in pursuit, 

but he was too late ; Wash- 
ington had already escaped to 
Morristown, a strong position 
that controlled New Jersey, 
and there entered into winter 
quarters. The losses of the 
preceding summer were thus 
in part recovered and the Brit- 
ish found themselves in con- 
trol of nothing more than 
Manhattan Island. 

Campaign in Northern New 
York. As a part of the plan 
to take the Hudson valley and 
thus separate New England 
from the South, in the sum- 
mer of 1777 three different 
British armies were organized 
to penetrate the state of New 
York from three different di- 
rections. First, a force of 
10,000 men under General 
John Burgoyne was to come 
from Canada by the way of 
Lake Champlain and move on 
to Albany. Second, a force of 2,000 men under Colonel St. 
Leger was to sail up the St. Lawrence into Lake Ontario, land 




ROUTES OF BURGOYNE AND ST. LEGER 
1777 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



149 




GENERAL SCHUYLER 



at Oswego, and come down the Mohawk valley reen forced by 
Tories and Indian allies and join Burgoyne at Albany. Third, 
Howe was to move np the 



Hudson with a force of not 
fewer than 18,000 and meet 
the other two armies. The 
combined armies were then 
to crush out the rebellion in 
one final movement. This 
plan might have been exe- 
cuted had it not been for one 
man's lapse of memory and 
for another man's mistake in 
following the advice of a 
traitor. 

Burgoyne's Invasion. 
Burgoyne advanced up Lake 
Champlain with a strong force — English and Hessians, Ca- 
nadians and Indians — and soon the two fortresses of Crown 
point and Ticonderoga fell into his hands. General Phillip 

Schuyler, with 4,000 Americans, 
had been assigned to resist this 
movement, but finding himself 
so strongly outnumbered he 
adopted Washington's tactics of 
retreating before the enemy. 
As he fell back he destroyed 
,, bridges, cut down trees, and by 
other devices impeded the on- 
ward march of the enemy to 
such an extent that Burgoyne 
covered only twenty-six miles in 
twenty- four days. Schuyler 
had removed all the cattle and 
provisions from the country and thus the forces of Burgoyne 
had to depend upon Canada or England for supplies. In the 




DANIEL MORGAN 



150 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

meanwhile the American forces were recruited by volunteers, 
and Washington, who was still at Morristown watching Howe 
in New York, sent reenforcements under Benedict Arnold and 
Lincoln, also Daniel Morgan with his famous Virginia sharp- 
shooters. 

Bennington and Oriskany. Burgoyne, who had become 
desperate for want of provisions, sent a detachment of troops 
to Bennington (a little village in what is now Vermont), to 
seize American supplies that had been collected there. But 
brave John Stark and his New Hampshire boys routed the 
British at Bennington, August 13, 1777. " They are ours to- 
night or Molly Stark is a widow," he had cried. Other dis- 
asters came thick and fast upon Burgoyne. The army, under 
St. Leger, that was to come down the Mohawk valley was 
unable to come further than the headwaters of the Mohawk 
River. This army had moved from Lake Ontario against Ft. 
Stanwix and was there reen forced by Tories and Indian 
allies under the great Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant. Li a 
deep ravine, near Oriskany, St. Leger encountered General 
Nicholas Herkimer wnth a body of militia marching to the 
relief of the forts, and here, in the midst of a terrific thunder- 
storm, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the whole 
war. It was a hand to hand encounter with pistols and knives, 
by shooting and stabbing and beating out each other's brains 
in truly savage fashion. The struggle ended with the 
Americans in possession of the field and they moved on to Ft. 
Stanwix where they immediately displayed the American stars 
and stripes.^ Arnold had been sent by Schuyler to relieve Ft. 
Stanwix and by a clever ruse he frightened St. Leger and his 
Indian allies out of the country.^ The battles of Bennington 

1 The first American flag" which was adopted by Congress June 14, 1777, 
is said to have been made by Betsy Ross of Philadelphia. The Betsy 
Ross house is still standing and is one of the landmarks of that city. 

- As Arnold was advancing toward Oriskany he captured a number of 
Tories, among them a half-witted boy, Yan Yost Cuyler, whom he set 
free on condition that he would go to St. Leger's camp with the story 
that Burgoyne was defeated and the Americans were coming. The boy 
rushed into the English lines in a state of panic, his hat riddled with 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 151 

and Oriskany were stunning blows to Bnrgoyne. He could 
not retreat into Canada because the New Hampshire militia 
hung about his rear; he must either fight or starve. 

Surrender of Burgoyne. Just when a complete and brilliant 
victory was about to crown the efforts of General Schuyler, 
he was succeeded in command by General Horatio Gates. 
Evil-minded persons had created ill feeling toward Schuyler 
among some of the members of Congress. He bore his humil- 
iation like a true patriot and offered to serve under the new 
officer. Burgoyne's plight was growing worse day by day. 
He waited in vain for the army that was to come up the Hud- 
son and join him at Albany, but Howe w^as then on the banks 
of the Brandy wine moving against Philadelphia. The cam- 
paign was being conducted from England and the orders for 
Howe to go up the Hudson lay forgotten in a pigeonhole of 
a desk in the war department. Charles Lee, now a prisoner 
in the hands of the English and a traitor to the American 
cause, was urging Howe to take Philadelphia and subdue 
Pennsylvania and thereby end the war.^ Burgoyne, in several 
minor engagements around Saratoga, tried to cut his way 
through the American lines, but he was foiled every time and 
usually by the personal daring of Benedict Arnold. At last, 
surrounded and hopeless, he surrendered his army to the Amer- 
icans at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. 

Howe's Advance upon Philadelphia. General Washington, 
at Morristown, anxiously watched General Howe, with the 
expectation that he would move up the Hudson to Bur- 
goyne's relief, but he seemed determined to take the " rebel 
capital." Prevented by Washington from marching across 
New Jersey, the British general left a sufficient garrison to 
defend New York and set sail from Staten Island. Appearing 
at the head of Chesapeake Bay he prepared to march on 
Philadelphia, but Washington had swept through New Jersey 

bullets and told his story. St. Leger credited what he said and immedi- 
ately retreated into Canada. 

1 Many years after the war it was discovered that while Lee was pris- 
oner in New York he was giving aid to the enemy. 



152 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




L.L. POATeS ENG'R CO. 



HOWE S ROUTE TO PHILADELPHIA 1777 



and was at the Brandywine Creek ready to dispute his advance 
upon the city. The Americans were greatly outnumbered and 
were defeated in a battle on September ii, by a flank move- 
ment under command of Cornwallis. In spite of this defeat 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



153 



at the Brandywine, General Washington retreated with such 
skill before Howe's advancing army that the British were de- 
layed two weeks in marching a distance of twenty-six miles 
to Philadelphia. Howe took position in Philadelphia but left 
the main part of his army camped at Germantown. Here 
Washington attacked him again on October 4, but lost the 
battle through an unfortunate accident in his own army. In 
a dense fog two divisions of the Americans mistook each other 
for the enemy and the cross fire produced such confusion that 
the attack failed. Howe now made himself snug and com- 
fortable for the winter and Washington moved northward to 
Valley Forge. 

Soldiers of Fortune. Up to this point in the struggle the 
Americans had fought the war practically unaided, although 
in 1777 a number of soldiers of 
fortune from foreign lands en- 
tered the American army to 
serve the cause of liberty. 
Among these was Marquis de 
Lafayette, a young Frenchman, 
who served for four years under 
Washington and won a warm 
place in the heart of the great 
commander and the undying 
gratitude of the American peo- 
ple.^ There were many other 
great men who gave their efforts 
to the American cause. Among 
them were Baron De Kalb, a 
German, who lost his life in the 
American army ; Kosciusko and 
Pulaski, two Polish officers ; and Baron Von Steuben, a Prus- 
sian veteran, who trained and drilled Washington's ragged 
regiments during the terrible winter at Valley Forge. 

1 In the court of the Louvre in Paris is a statue of Lafayette given 
by the school children of America as a tribute to the noble Frencliman 
who aided us. It was dedicated in the summer of 1908. 




7// 1 ii^^y^-j 



?^ 



GENERAL LAFAYETTE 



154 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

The French Alliance. The year 1777- 1778 was the turn- 
ing point of the American Revolution. From this time for- 
ward the war was not confined to Great Britain and her 
colonies but it widened into a great struggle between Great 
Britain and her European enemies, although of these only 
France came in direct contact with the war in America. The 
Continental Congress in 1776 had sent Benjamin Franklin of 
Pennsylvania as agent to France to solicit aid, and it was a 
wise choice, for the civilized world recognized the genius of 
the man who " could snatch the lightning from the skies and 
the scepter from tyrants." France was willing to help us, 
not so much because she loved us as because she longed 
for revenge against Great Britain for the loss of her fair 
dominions beyond the seas. At first the help of France was 
given secretly in the form of shiploads of ammunition and 
clothing, but after Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga it ap- 
peared as if the American cause would succeed and in 1778 
France made a treaty recognizing the independence of the 
United States, and agreed to send a fleet of sixteen war vessels 
and an army of 4,000 men to our aid. Both countries agreed 
to make common cause against Great Britain until American 
independence was won. 

English Efforts at Reconciliation. The news of Burgoyne's 
surrender had been the determining factor with France in 
agreeing to the treaty of alliance, and to England it came as 
a staggering blow. In 1778, overtures for peace were made; 
all the measures that had aroused such bitter opposition in 
America were repealed and England promised that the colonies 
should be free from taxation, but it was too late. The only 
terms on which the Americans would treat was the recogni- 
tion of their independence and England was not yet ready to 
make that concession. Great Britain soon declared war on 
France; in 1779 Spain joined France in war against England, 
and in 1780 Holland also entered the lists against Great 
Britain, the mistress of the seas. 

Winter at Valley Forge. Well it was for the Americans 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



155 



that there was cheering news from abroad, for the winter of 
1778 was one of untold suffering for the patriot army. After 
tlie British occupied Philadelphia, Washington took his desti- 
tute little aniiy to Valley Forge about twenty miles north, and 
the march could be traced in the snow by the blood that oozed 
through the worn shoes of the soldiers. Here, half fed, half 
clothed, and many of them without blankets or bedding, they 




WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE AT VALLEY FORGE 



passed a miserable winter. Many of the soldiers lost their 
feet and legs by freezing and amputation, and others died for 
lack of straw to protect them from the frozen ground. 
" There were no summer soldiers and sunshine patriots " 
hcre.^ The great Washington shared these privations with 
his men. Baron Von Steuben also was there and by the open- 
ing of spring, under his training, these tattered and ill-fed regi- 
ments had become a well-disciplined army. At the same time 

1 They were suffering in a land of plenty ; but owing to the inefficiency 
of Congress, the scarcity of money, and the bad character of the roads, 
Washington could obtain no supplies. 



156 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the British army was resting in idleness and hixury in Phila- 
delphia. 

The Conway Cabal. But Washington's endurance was to 
suffer to a still more severe strain. In addition to the agony 
of his soldiers and the gloomy prospect of the cause, he was 
subjected to the humiliation of a conspiracy by jealous enemies 
among his own countrymen. While he was suffering with the 
soldiers at Valley Forge and holding them together in spite 
of their great distress, a plot was hatched in Congress to de- 
pose him and put the incompetent Gates in command. This 
was known as the Conway Cabal, and was so called from the 
fact that Thomas Conway ^ was one of the leaders. When 
this plot was discovered public indignation was so aroused that 
the conspiracy was quickly abandoned. Washington con- 
ducted himself in this trying affair with a quiet dignity that 
won the admiration of all the people. 

British Evacuate Philadelphia. In the spring of 1778, 
General Howe went home to England and Sir Henry Clinton 
succeeded him in command of the English forces. After 
receiving the news of the French Alliance, Clinton decided to 
evacuate Philadelphia and concentrate his whole army at New 
York before the French fleet and army could arrive. Hardly 
were the British out of the capital city before the Americans 
occupied it. Leaving Arnold there in command, Washing- 
ton hurried after Clinton, determined to strike before he 
reached New York. He overtook the British at Monmouth 
Court House in New Jersey and in all probability would have 
won a victory with his well-drilled army but for the dastardly 
disobedience of Charles Lee.^ Contrary to Washington's 
commands, Lee retreated with his division at a critical mo- 
ment. The commander-in-chief perceived the act and, order- 
ing Lee to the rear, himself led the division into the fight, but 
it was too late to overcome the disadvantage. For this dis- 

1 Thomas Conway was an Irish soldier of fortune. Later he bitterly 
repented the part he had played in this plot and so told Washington. 

2 Genera,l Charles Lee, captured in the fight around New York City, 
had been exchanged. 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



157 



obedience Lee was suspended from his command for a year 
and later Congress expelled liim from the army. This battle at 
Monmouth was the last general engagement on northern soil 
during the war. A few weeks later Washington was en- 
camped at White Plains, just east of the Hudson, while Clin- 




THE HEROISM OF MOLLIE PITCHER. SHE TOOK HER STRICKEN HUSBAND S 
PLACE AT THE GUN IN THE BATTLE- OF MONMOUTH 

ton occupied New York. Here the two armies remained 
watching each other for three years while the chief action 
of the war was transferred to the South. As a result of the 
three years' warfare up to this point, the British held only two 
cities in the United States, New York and Newport. 

Anthony Wayne. Clinton sent out several detachments to 
burn and plunder defenseless villages along the coast, and 
tried to decoy Washington from his position where he was 
guarding the upper Hudson, by marauding expeditions into 
Connecticut. But Washington refused to move, and he pro- 
tected Connecticut by sending General Anthony Wayne, who 
won the name of " Mad " Anthony Wayne on account of his 
rash bravery, to storm the British works at Stony Point on 
the Hudson. General Wayne crei)t silently on the place on 
the night of July 15, 1779. Not a gun was loaded so there 



158 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



might be no possible betrayal from a random shot, and, as a 
further precaution, every dog for miles around had been killed. 

At the opportune moment. 



the Americans rushed up- 
on the sleeping garrison 
and after a fierce encoun- 
ter the British surren- 
dered.^ 

Treason of Arnold. 
When Washington left 
Philadelphia, in 1778, to 
follow Clinton across 
New Jersey, Benedict 
Arnold, who had not yet 
entirely recovered from 
the wound he received at 
Saratoga, was left in com- 
mand. Arnold had won 
fame by his daring march 
through the Maine wil- 
derness ; he had distin- 
guished himself at Quebec, 
and it was largely through 
his valor that Burgoyne 
had met defeat in the valley of the Hudson. For these 
services, Arnold had not received the promotion that he and 
others thought was his due. In Philadelphia his extrava- 
gant living and the fact that he lingered much in Tory society 
aroused the suspicions of Congress and there was an investiga- 
tion of his conduct.^ He was found guilty of nothing more 
than imprudence and he was sentenced to receive a public 
reprimand from the commander-in-chief. Washington, out of 

1 Light Horse Harry Lee made a daring attack on Paulus Hook, a fort 
on the present site of Jersey City. He captured 159 prisoners, losing of 
his own men only two killed and three wounded. 

- In America, the patriots were called Whigs, and those who were loyal 
to Great Britain, Tories. 




ANTHONY WAYNE 



THE WAR IN THE NORTH 



159 



love for the man and admiration for the brilliant, dashing 
soldier, administered the reprimand in such a manner that it 
amounted to a eulogy. But this did not end the incident. 

Stung to the quick by the humiliation he suffered at the 
hands of Congress, Arnold, in a weak moment, was tempted 
to commit one of the blackest of crimes. In 1780, at his own 
request, he was assigned to the command of the strong- 
fortress West Point, which was the key to the upper Hudson. 
This fortress he undertook to hand over to the enemy, and in 




WEST POINT FORTIFICATIONS, I780 

turn he was to receive an office in the British army and 
$30,000 in money. To obtain all the details of the surrender 
of the fort, Clinton sent Major John Andre up the Hudson 
to confer with Arnold. The two met at midnight on the river 
bank in a thicket four miles below West Point and here the 
plot was matured. But the unexpected happened. The sloop 
of war Vulture, waiting for Andre, was fired upon by Ameri- 
cans and was compelled to drop down the river. Andre was 
thus forced to make his way back to the English lines by 
land. In disguise, with the treasonable papers between his 
stockings and the soles of his feet, he hurried on, but at Tarry- 
town he was captured, the papers were discovered, and he was 
hanged as a spy. Arnold heard of the capture in time to 
make his escape, and fled to the British lines where he received 
his reward in spite of the fact that tlic conspiracy had failed 
of execution. When this news reached Washington he cried 
in anguish, " Arnold is a traitor and has fled to the British ! 



i6o STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Whom can we trust now?" ^ Never again could the great 
commander hear without a shudder the name of the man he 
had loved and trusted. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What events changed people's minds towards independence from the 
spring of 1775 to July, 1776? 2. What two colonies took the lead in oppo- 
sition to England? 3. In what section were the most Tories? 4. As a 
rule which side did the German settlers take? 5. What do you think of 
Washington's treatment of Lee? Of Arnold? 6. How did Franklin serve 
[he American cause before and during the war? 7. What writer gave 
great aid to the patriot cause? 8. What was the turning point of the war? 
9. In what respect was Schuyler due the credit for Gates's victory at Sara- 
toga? 10. Why did Spain enter the war? What did she get from the 
treaty of peace? 

1 After the close of the war Arnold went to England, where he spent 
the remainder of his life. . Just before he died he called for the old Amer- 
ican uniform in which he had made his escape from West Point. Putting 
it on he said, " Let me die in this old uniform in which I fought my 
battles. May God forgive me for ever putting on any other," 



CHAPTER X 

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION : ON THE FRONTIER AND ON 

THE SEA 



In the years 1778 and 1779 there was constant warfare 
along the frontier with the Indians and the Tories. Less than 
a week after the battle of Monmouth, the beautiful Wyoming 
valley in Northern Pennsylvania was the scene of a fiendish 
massacre, and death and desolation and ruin reigned where 
there had been happy homes, waving fields of grain, and cattle 
grazing on the hillsides. In Cherry Valley, New York, the 
outrage was repeated. Wash- 
ington, exasperated at these 
cruel raids, sent General Sulli- 
van into the Indian country with 
5,000 men and soon such ven- 
geance was visited upon the 
Tories and their savage allies 
that the northern settlers were 
comparatively safe during the 
remainder of the war. 

In the Southwest. In the 
Southwest a few settlements had 
sprung up west of the Alle- 
ghanies. John Sevier and James 
Robertson left North Carolina, 
where they had become dissatis- 
fied with the government con- 
trolled by a faction on the coast, and pushed westward into the 
Tennessee and Cumberland \allcvs.^ Daniel Boone had blazed 




DANIEL JOONE 



1 See page 128. 



i6t 



1 62 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



the old "Wilderness trail" and had gone into Kentucky. 
Many sturdy emigrants followed this brave pathfinder and 
made homes beyond the mountains, but the terrors of savage 
warfare soon checked the westward movement. 

Conquest of Illinois. George Rogers Clark, a daring 
hunter and frontiersman and a skilled surveyor, conceived the 
plan of defending the frontier by carrying the war into the 
enemy's country. North of the Ohio in the region between 
the Alleghanies and the Mississippi there were a few English 
settlers stationed at the old French forts. Colonel Hamilton, 
the British commander at Detroit, had incited the Indians 
throughout the country to make war on the white settlers. 
Soon Clark, with a commission from Governor Patrick 

Henry of Virginia, and accompa- 
nied by 1 80 picked riflemen, floated 
down the Ohio from Pittsburg to 
the mouth. Then marching across 
the prairies and swamps and fording 
swollen streams, he surprised and 
captured the British at Kaskaskia 
and Vincennes in 1779. Hamil- 
ton's efforts to drive the Americans 
out of the region were unsuccess- 
ful and British authority in the Ohio 
country was forever at an end. 
The territory was annexed to Virginia as the county of Illi- 
nois. 

John Paul Jones. The year 1779, which marked Clark's 
daring expedition into Illinois, was also famous for a great 
victory on the sea. During the early years of the war, 
the American cause was upheld upon the sea mainly 
by privateers, but after the French Alliance in 1778 the 
French furnished us with many fighting ships. In the sum- 
mer of 1778, John Paul Jones, an officer in the United States 
navy, was in command of a little squadron whose flag- 
ship was the Poor Richard, so named in honor of Benjamin 




ROUTE OF CLARK 



ON THE FRONTIER AND ON THE SEA 



163 



Franklin from the title of his famous ahnanac/ Jones cruised 
around in Enghsh waters and struck terror to the villages along 
the coast. On Sep- ... 

tember 23, he spied 
two British men-of- 
war escorting a fleet 
of merchant vessels. 
Soon the American 
squadron overtook 
them and the Poor 
Richard was immedi- 
ately engaged in a 
desperate fight with 
the enemy's flagship, 
the Serapis. The 
Poor Richard ran into 
the Serapis and for a 
few' moments ceased 
her firing, whereupon 
Captain Pearsons of 
the Serapis called out, 
" Have you struck 
your colors? " " I have not yet begun to fight," was Jones's 
quick answer, and the battle raged more intensely. Finally the 
Serapis was so badly damaged that she was compelled to sur- 
render. The Poor Richard was also badly damaged and sank 
the next morning. England, the proud mistress of the seas, 
had met signal defeat and John Paul Jones was the hero of 
Europe as well as America. 

1 John Paul Jones was a Scotch sailor who in 1773 had gone to Virginia 
to reside. When the war broke out he offered his services to Congress 
and distinguished himself from the beginning by his skill and bravery. 
Different monarchs of Europe conferred honors on Jones and after the 
close of the Revolution he served in the Russian navy with the rank of 
Rear Admiral. He died in Paris in 1792 and was buried there. In 1906 
his remains were brought to America and reinterred with naval honors 
at Annapolis, the site of the American Naval Academy. 







JOHN PAUL JONES 



l64 STUDEXrS HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. Who has immortalized Paul Tones in Literature? 2. By what right 
did Virginia claim the Northwest Territory? 



CHAPTER XI 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION : THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 



After the surrender of Burgoyne. late in 1777, and the battle 
of Monmouth, in the summer of 1778, lighting in the North 
was, as we have seen, rather desultory. But the South, which 
had been free from attack since Moultrie's gallant defense of 
Charleston, became the scene of almost constant fighting from 
1778 until the close of the war. Savannah was taken in 1778 
by Colonel Campbell with a British fleet from New York, and 
soon all Georgia was 
under royal rule again. 
Late in December, 1779, 
Clinton, leaving a force 
at New York to defend 
it against the vigilant 
^^'ashington. sailed 
southward with 7,000 
troops to capture Charles- 
ton. He approached the 
city by land from Sa- 
vannah and the fleet 
forced its way through 
the harbor. After a 
vigorous defense Gen- 
eral Lincoln, the Amer- 
ican commander, was 
obliged to surrender the 
city, May 12, 1780, 
together with his army of 6,000. After this auspicious begin- 
ning Clinton returned to New York, leaving to Cornwallis the 
completion of the subjugation of the South. The whole of 

165 




FRANCIS MARION 



1 66 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



South Carolina was overrun by the British. England looked 
upon the war as practically ended and believed that America 
was overwhelmed at last. 

Marion and Sumter. But there w^ere a few men that kept 
alive the patriot cause in the dark days following the fall of 

Charleston. Francis Ma- 
rion, the " Swamp Fox " ; 
Thomas Sumter, the " South 
Carolina Game Cock," and 
Andrew Pickens were mas- 
ters of daring warfare. 
With a mere handful of fol- 
lowers these men would 
creep tiger-like from the 
dense woods and tangled 
swamps and strike a deadly 
blow at the British and then 
disappear as suddenly as 
they had come. There were 
midnight marches, desperate 
hand to hand encounters, 
and daring raids that struck terror to the hearts of the British 
and Tories. 

Battle of Camden. Congress now sent the incompetent 
Gates to take command in the South. Here he had no Schuy- 
ler to plan a campaign, as he had at Saratoga, and his Carolina 
movement was an inglorious failure. He planned an attack 
on Camden, an important place in South Carolina, where a 
number of roads converge. Here a strange thing happened ; 
Gates decided to march through a wood by night and surprise 
the enemy at daybreak, and Cornwallis at the same hour started 
through the same stretch of woods for the same purpose. The 
two forces met about halfway in the woods and each fell back 
in surprise. In the early morning the fighting began and the 
Americans were decisively defeated. The brave Baron De 
Kalb was killed and Gates fled from the field in a mad gallop 




THOMAS SUMTER 




i-il'.VoLL Tlo.VAkV WAk-CAMPAIOXS IX THl.: SOrTH 



WAR IN THE SOUTH 



167 



and by night he had covered sixty miles. This was the man 
who had been plotting to overthrow Washington. 

Battle of King's Mountain. The year 1780 was for the 
Americans the gloomiest of the war. Two armies had been 
lost in the South ; Arnold had shocked the whole country, and 
the victorious British were ready to overrun North Carolina 
and to mo\e into Virginia. But before the end of the year 





'a" 


HI^S 


\ 1 ,»■. ■ -i 


mSHHttK^^^ 




f"«^-.'4- /;^#-.A '^'^■^■1 




fe\ ^ ■ JIM 





BATTLE OF KING S MOUNTAIN 



there came one cheering" victory. Cornwallis had sent Fergu- 
son with 1,200 men into the upper country to enlist the Tories 
of South Carolina. As the news of Ferguson's raid spread 
beyond the mountains, the plucky backwoodsmen of the Caro- 
linas poured forth from hill and valley a thousand strong. 



1 68 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

These fearless sharpshooters came upon the British at King's 
Mountain. To them mountain chmbing was easy and they 
rushed headlong upon the British. Finally the brave Fergu- 
son was killed, hundreds of his soldiers were lying dead and 
wounded, and the little remnant of the British force surren- 
dered. The mountaineers soon scattered and went back to 
their homes. 

Cowpens and Guilford Court House. A third army was 
now raised in the South and put under the command of Gen- 
eral Nathaniel Greene. With him were valiant Henry Lee 
and his legion of cavalry, and Daniel Morgan with his Vir- 
ginia riflemen. The latter was sent into western South Caro- 
lina to worry Cornwallis and to gather recruits. Tarleton, 
a British cavalry leader, was sent to drive him back. The two 
armies met at the Cowpens, grazing grounds near Spartan- 
burg, South Carolina, and Tarleton was badly whipped. Mor- 
gan rejoined Greene after this battle and together they led 
Cornwallis a chase far into North Carolina. Greene turned 
back after being reenforced, and attacked the British at Guil- 
ford Court House. The Americans were defeated in this 
battle, but the army of Cornwallis was so reduced that he had 
to hurry with his . worn-out and almost famished men to 
Wilmington, to obtain aid from the British fleet lying there. 
Greene followed him awhile and then turned back abruptly 
into South Carolina and inflicted loss after loss upon the un- 
wary enemy. By the close of 1781 the British held only 
Charleston and Savannah in the states south of Virginia. 

Cor-nwallis Surrenders. Cornwallis now moved northward 
into Virginia in the hope of capturing that state and thus 
breaking the backbone of the rebellion. A small British force, 
under Generals Phillips and Arnold, was already there, con- 
fronted by a detachment under Lafayette, who had been sent 
by Washington to protect the state. Cornwallis effected a 
junction with Arnold and with 5,000 men undertook to crush 
Lafayette who had a force of barely 3,000, the most of whom 
were unskilled militia. But " the boy," as Cornwallis called 



WAR IN THE SOUTH 



169 



Lafayette, had fought with 



Washington 



too lonj 



to be 

trapped, and he retreated before the advancing British. Soon 
CornwalHs dropped back to the coast and fortified himself at 
Yorktown. Lafayette then took position at Malvern Hill 
and reported the situation to Washington. The commander- 
in-chief had been at White Plains pursuing a watch-dog policy 
for the last three 
years and now he 
decided the time had 
come to strike a tell- 
ing blow. Leaving 
a small force to 
guard the Hudson 
and deceiving Clin- 
ton by pretending to 
make an attack on 
Stat en Island, he 
rushed southward 
with an army of 
6,000, 4,000 of 
whom were French- 
men under Rocham- 
beau, to join Lafay- 
ette. The French 
fleet, meanwhile un- 
der count De Grasse, 
guarded Chesapeake 
Bay. So successful- 
ly had Washington 
executed his plans 
that almost before 
Cornwallis could 
realize his danger he was shut up in Yorktown by the Amer- 
ican army which numbered about 16,000. After a siege of 
three wrecks a white flag was hoisted above the British 
parapets, and on October 19, Cornwallis surrendered his 




SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN 



I70 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

army as the band played " The World Turned Upside 
Down." 

Peace of Paris. The event evoked unbounded joy through- 
out the states. Both sides realized that the war was over and 
commissioners were appointed to meet in Paris. ^ The nego- 
tiations were much prolonged for there were important con- 
troversies as to boundaries and other questions to settle. 
Great Britain wished to retain the Ohio valley, but the Ameri- 
cans would not consider gi\-ing up this vast region which the 
A'alor of Clark had w'on. Finally, in September, 1783, the 
following terms were agreed upon : 

1. His Britannic majesty acknowledged the said United 
States, to-wit : New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to be free, 
SOVEREIGN, and INDEPENDENT STATES. The boundaries of 
these states on the west extended to the Mississippi River. 

2. The Americans gained the rig'ht to fish off the Grand 
Banks of New^foundland. 

3. Congress was to advise the states to treat the loyalists 
kindly. 

4. Florida, which then included parts of Alabama and 
Mississippi, was restored to Spain. 

On November 25, 1783, the British sailed away from New 
York ; English dominion in the United States was at an end. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What was the British plan with regard to the South? 2. What novel 
deals with the Revolution at the South? 3. Of what class of people were 
the Americans at King's Mountain ? 4. Compare Green with Washington. 

1 Our peace commissioners were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John 
Adams. 




t,U. F0«Tt3 EHIi.C8„M-y 



'JO I.onpilude 85' W 



from 80" Un-cn»ich 



uxi'i'i'.i) s'lwn-.s A'l" 'I'm-: closi<: oi*' Tin-: kivVoli'tion 



CHAPTKK XI I 

Till-: CUITKAL PKKIOU 

While the War for Independence was in progress, the states, 
luuler a sense ui eonunun danger, banded theinseKes together 
into a loose union or confederacy. In 177O, on the same day 
that the committee was appointed to draft the Declaration of 
Indepeiulence, another committee was organised to draw up a 
plan of union for the states. This connnittee prepared the 
" Articles of Confederation," which were i)resented to Con- 
gress in July, 1776, and in the fall of 1777 were adopted by 
that body subject ta the ratification of all the states. Three 
years and a half elapsed before tlie articles were ratified, and 
the states, meanwhile having cast otf their allegiance to luig- 
land, had set up tiieir own state governments and each assumed 
conipk'te so\ ereij4tit\- within itself. 

Cession of Western Lands. Tin.- ratiticatioii of the Arti- 
cles of Confederation was delayed by a number of the states, 
particularly Maryland, on account of the claim of the larger 
and older states to the western lands between the mountains 
and the Mississippi l\i\i.r.' A number of larger states laid 
claim to the whole region luider tiie t)ld charters or under 
Indian cessions or by right of actual con(|uest.- Otiier 

' hi 1784, after Ni)rtli Carolina had rrdrd lur wi->trrii lands, tin- pt-opU' 
of tiic scttlenuMits beyond tlir nionntains furnicd an indi^iHudiMit statf 
known as " l-'ranklin " with John Sevier as governor. North Carolina, 
however, claimed jnrisdiction over the region for several years and it was 
not nntil i7</) that this territory beyond the nionntains became a separate 
state and tlien it bore the name of Temiessee. 

-■ Massachusetts, Comiecticut, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Cleorgia based 
their claims on their old charters. Virginia claimed the region north of 
ihc Ohio by the right of coiKjuest also. New Yoik claimed the region 
between the Great Lakes and the Temiessee Uiver on the gronnd that the 
lr(K|n<)is Indians bad deeded their lands lo the governor of New York and 
that tile authority of thcbc tribes exttnded over the whole tuunliy. 

171 



17-' STLIDl^NT'S IIIS'IOKV Ol' OUR COUNTRY 



slak's (lciii;iii(lc(| tlial llu-sc lands \k- sin i fii(lt'rc(| (o ilu' ( "on- 
fcdt-ration Inr llic bmi-lil of all. ( )iic- |)y one llic stales rc- 
nounci'd llu'ii- ilainis and al Icni^lli llic whole wcsleni dominion 
lioni llic (ileal Lakes on llu- iioiili lo Spanish hlorida on ihc 
south heeanie the property of the Confederation.' Maryland 
(Ik'ii ralihed the Articles and tliev heeanie elTectivc March i, 
1781. 

Government Under the Confederation, This C'on federation 
was nothiniL;- more than a league of sowreij^n states, and now 
liial sepai-alion from hji'^^laiid had hccii accoinplislic(| and 
peace had hccii cstahlishecj, there was lack of a stroiij.;' seliti- 
niciil ill la\oi ol conliinie(| niiioii. [ealonsy of one anothei" 











irLtf I>oUdrs. 

tVi Bearer to nr«»w ,^ 
Til 1 11 T r Spanifli S^^SL? 
,millr(i Doi,i,*i>, ^W^ 

\r tic %!ui tStriil InA. 
UqMor.Wtvrr nc ^ 

(W« ofCoiWTtfj.lKlf \ J 

fU rt ■I'liUJ.tj.H.u, ^ 

hlovomlitr «, 177* (V 



Ul'l'OM IK SIDKh OK CONTINKNTAI, CUUKKNCV, KKUUtEU IN SIZE 

and a fear of I he power of any i;'o\c'ninicnt ontside their own 
honndaiics charactcri/ed all the statt'S. The j^overnnient 
org'anizc<l under the /XiiicK's (d' ( on fcdeialioii was not strong 
enouf^ii to inspire either loyalty or respect. 'Jdie chief Iniic 
tion of Coiii^ri'ss was to advise and recommend, hnt it had 
no |)ovver to compel coin|)liance with its will. Its j^reatest 
weaknes.s was that it conld not raise a dollar of revenue to pay 
Ihc soldiers or the interesl on the pnhlic deht or its own current 
expenses, but was dependent upon appeals to the slates. In 
the matter of commercial rei;nlatioiis and of iiTilioiis with 

'Georgia was tlu' lasl slali- lo rt'dc iu-r wt^stcni lainl . in iKoj, she 
Rave up what is now AIal)aiiia and Mississippi on condilioii lliai the Indians 
be removed from tin' hordiTs of (he state. 



THE CRITICAL PERIOD 173 

other nations, it was without authority and any treaty or any 
provision affecting interstate commerce was subject to thirteen 
possible vetoes. Having no means of supfwrt the government 
could borrow no money, and it was without respect at home or 
abroad. The states had suffered too severely under arbitrary 
government during the years of English possession to set up or 
accept a " King Congress " to take the place of King George. 

Trouble With the Soldiers. The Confederation was hardly 
organized before it confronted a mutinous army, and during 
its eight years of existence dangers beset it from every side. 
The soldiers felt that they were ill treated because of the 
failure of Congress to pay them promptly, and several times 
they threatened serious trouble. The demands of the soldiers 
were entirely reasonable; their pay was years in arrears and 
they were half starved and half clothed and in many instances 
their families were in actual need. But Congress had no 
money and no way of raising money. Some of the leaders 
of the army, disgusted with the inefficiency of Congress, enter- 
tained the idea of making Washington king, but he spurned 
the suggestion and rebuked it in the severest terms. In 1783 
two regiments actually revolted and drove Congress from 
Philadelj^hia. Alx^ut the same time the discontent and distrust 
were increased by the Xewburgh address, which was pub- 
lished anonymously while the army was encamjied at New- 
burgh on the Hudson, urging the soldiers to stanrl together 
until their grievances were redressed. Fortunately Washing- 
ton's great influence served to restrain the complaining sol- 
diers and he succeeded in securing for them promise of full 
pay for five years and liljeral Ixjunties in lands. The army 
was disbanded in June, 1783. 

Foreign Relations. In its conduct of foreign affairs, the 
Confederation was a sari failure. In spite of our efforts 
we could not secure a favorable commercial treaty with Eng- 
land. That nation cut us ofT from trading with the British 
West Indies and .\merican grxxls were heavily taxed at 
English ports. Congress could not retaliate l>ecause not all 



174 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the states were agreed to any measure of redress. Another 
nation with which the United States desired to make especially 
favorable commercial arrangements was Spain. That country 
was agreeably inclined, provided the states would not demand 
free navigation of the lower Mississippi.^ The northern 
states were in favor of the proposal because navigation of 
the lower Mississippi was of no value to them and trade with 
the Spanish West Indies was much desired. But instantly the 
South and West were aroused ; Kentucky and Tennessee had 
been filling up rapidly with settlers and now these Westerners 
boldly threatened to secede from the Confederation if the 
mouth of the Alississippi was to be closed. In the face of 
this vehement protest no treaty was made. Our foreign rela- 
tions continued in this unsettled condition until after the 
organization of Congress under the new constitution. 

Interstate Troubles. Commerical relations among the 
states were equally unsatisfactory. Congress had no power 
to regulate interstate trade and each state passed its own traffic 
laws in its own interest without regard to the convenience or 
welfare of any other state. New York, in the interest of her 
own farmers, laid taxes on chickens and garden products from 
New Jersey; New Jersey retaliated by taxing New York on 
a lighthouse on her coast to the amount of $i,8oo a year. 
New York taxed all the firewood coming in from Connecticut 
and the merchants of that state responded with a boycott on 
New York. North Carolina found herself between the upper 
and the nether millstones, as it were, having no good ports of 
her own and having to ship her products at a high rate either 
through Virginia or South Carolina ports. These constant 
bickerings and conflicts were almost fatal to what little senti- 
ment for union had existed. 

Shays's Rebellion. The Confederation and the several 
states were heavily burdened with debt. All the " hard 
money " was sent out of the country for the purchase of goods 

1 Spain had given England free navigation of the lower Mississippi 
in the Peace of Paris in 1763, and at the peace of 1783 England had agreed 
to transfer this right to us. Spain denied her right to make this transfer. 



THE CRITICAL PERIOD 175 

from abroad and there was almost universal financial distress. 
There was a constant cry for paper money which the people 
seemed to think would be a cure for their ills. But paper 
money was only a promise to pay, and it was worth little in 
the absence of anything substantial in the possession of the 
government with which it could be redeemed. Nearly all the 
states issued paper money and the few that refused to yield to 
the public demand in this respect paid dearly for their denial. 
In Alassachusetts there was open rebellion, led by Captain 
Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary soldier. Shays, with two thou- 
sand angry debtor- farmers, surrounded the court house and 
put a stop to the proceedings of the court in order to prevent 
the termination of law suits against the debtors. These rebel- 
lious men plundered and burned ; and they gained possession of 
several towns in the western part of the state. Finally they 
were dispersed by the state militia under General Lincoln. 

Ordinance of 1787. Some efiforts had been made to remedy 
these chaotic conditions by amending the Articles of Con- 
federation, but no amendment was effective without the ap- 
proval of all thirteen states, and this never could be obtained. 
The times were critical ; either Congress must have more power 
or the union of states would cease to exist, and with disunion 
there was danger of foreign interference. But there was one 
strong common interest among the thirteen states — they 
owned a great piece of property, a vast public domain extend- 
ing from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi. This possession 
served to hold the states together, for it was apparent that the 
land could be opened to settlement and that the proceeds could 
be used for paying the debts of the war. The delegates of the 
states in Congress gave diligent study to plans for organizing 
this territory and at length devised the Ordinance of 1787. 
which was passed by the dying Congress of the Confederation 
and became a model for the administration of subsequent ter- 
ritories acquired by the United States. Provision was made 
for the temporary management of the land north of the Ohio 
and for ultimate division into new states ; personal and reli- 



176 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

gious liberty was guaranteed to the settlers; means of educa- 
tion were to be provided, and slavery was to be forever 
excluded from the section north of the Ohio River. ^ Not 
fewer than three nor more than five states were to be carved 
out of the territory, and statehood was to be granted to a new 
territory as soon as it contained 60,000 inhabitants.- The 
anti-slavery provision of the ordinance was similar to one 
suggested in 1784 by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, who wrote 
tlie Declaration of Independence and who was one of the 
world's greatest advocates of universal freedom. 

The Constitution. The need for easy communication with 
the new settlements of the West and the vexatious question of 
interstate trade developed a very important undertaking. The 
Virginia legislature invited delegates from all the other states 
to meet at Annapolis. But few delegates attended, and this 
meeting adjourned without considering the question, but they 
called a convention of all the states to be held in May follow- 
ing, in Philadelphia, for the purpose of amending the Articles 
of Confederation. 

There was some doubt as to how the states would receive 
this suggestion, but Washington approved it and as the time 
for the meeting approached much interest was manifested. 
At last fifty-five delegates assembled in Philadelphia, repre- 
senting all the states except Rhode Island, and here, in the 
same hall where the colonies had declared their independence, 
the convention assembled and sat in secret session for four 
months.^ Washington was chosen to preside and he had great 
influence over the members; the aged Franklin was a mem- 
ber, and contributed his ripe wisdom to the great cause; 
young James Madison of Virginia was a conspicuous member, 
and he contributed in such large part to the chief features of 

1 Slavery existed in nearly all the thirteen states in 1787. 

2 Five states were carved out of this territory; Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, and Wisconsin, and a part of it went to Minnesota. 

'•' As soon as there were delegates present from nine states the doors 
were closed and a solemn pledge of secrecy was imposed on the memhers. 
Not until fifty years afterwards were the proceedings of the convention 
published. 



THE CRITICAL PERIOD 177 

the fundamental law that he has been called the " Father of 
the Constitution." The delegates were the greatest men of the 
country, and they soon realized the impossibility of develop- 
ing a satisfactory plan of government upon the basis of the 
Articles of Confederation, and, consequently, they set them- 
selves to the task of constructing an entirely new plan of union. 

The Great Compromises. So different were the states of 
the several sections that three great compromises were neces- 
sary before the Constitution took final form. The first was 
the question of relative representation as between the large 
and the small states. Virginia proposed that the states be 
represented according to population in a congress of two 
houses, but the smaller states resisted this proposal, as it would 
give control to the larger states, and they contended for a con- 
gress which would give equal representation of the states with- 
out regard to population.^ The controversy was settled by a 
compromise, which gave equal representation to all the states 
in the Senate, or upper house of Congress, and representation 
in proportion to population in the House of Representatives, 
or the lower branch of Congress.^ 

The second compromise was between the North and the 
South on the matter of representation as it related to slavery. 
The point of controversy was on the question of counting the 
negroes in the census to be used as a basis of representation 
in the lower house of Congress. There were but few slaves 
in the North and the delegates from that section were bitterly 
opposed to counting them ; the southern delegates on the other 
liand were in favor of counting the negroes as population. A 
prolonged deadlock was finally broken by Madison's sugges- 
li(jn that three-fifths of the negroes be counted, and this sug- 
gestion was adopted. 

The third compromise consisted of differences between 

1 Under the Articles of Confederation the vote in Congress was by- 
states. 

- The senators, two from each state, were to be selected by the state 
legislatures, . and the representatives in the lower house were to be 
elected by the people of the state, one for not fewer than every 30,000 
population. 



178 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

agricultural and commercial interests. The New England 
states wished Congress to have full control of commerce ; the 
South objected to this plan lest export duties be laid on her 
agricultural products. It was finally agreed to give Congress 
control over commerce with the right to levy taxes on imports 
but with no right to lexy taxes on exports. In connection with 
the problem of commerce arose the question of the African 
slave trade which many of the states wished to have abolished. 
South Carolina and Georgia objected to its immediate cessa- 
tion, because they had lost many of their slaves during the war 
and they were in need of laborers for their plantations. Some 
of the New England states also objected because they had been 
engaged in the traffic for years and many of the merchants 
wished time in which to find other employment for their ships. 
It was finally agreed that the foreign slave trade should not be 
prohibited before 1808. A fugitive slave law was incorpo- 
rated in the Constitution.^ At last the finished Constitution 
was adopted by Congress and submitted to the states for their 
acceptance or rejection. 

The New Union. The new Constitution differed from the 
Articles of Confederation in that it provided for a government 
of three separate departments.- There was to be an executive 
— the President and Vice-president ; a Legislative Department, 
consisting of a Congress composed of two houses, the Senate 
and the House of Representatives; and the Judicial Depart- 
ment, consisting of the Supreme Court and such inferior courts 
as Congress should create. The President was authorized to 
veto the acts of Congress by way of restraining rash action, 
though it was provided that laws could be passed over his veto 
by a two-thirds vote. The purpose of the Constitution thus 
devised was to create a government of three independent 

1 Virginia was the first state North or South to prohibit the slave trade, 
and Georgia was the first to incorporate prohibition of the slave trade in 
her constitution. The Articles of Confederation had contained no pro- 
vision for the return of runaway slaves, but the New England Confedera- 
tion many years before had contained such a provision. 

- Under the Articles there was a Congress consisting of one house that 
had power to create executive committees. 



THE CRITICAL PERIOD 



1/9 



coordinate branches. The framers of the Constitution took 
care to avoid the exercise of absolute power in the govern- 
ment. Under the new Constitution the federal government 
came into control of commerce and ^vas empowered to levy 
taxes for the support of the government. 

Ratification of the Constitution. The great question now 
was the ratification of the Constitution by the several states, 
and this was a matter of grave doubt for a long time. To 
these American forefathers of ours, local self-government and 
personal independence were 
dearer than united strength, 
commercial privilege, and all 
else besides; and these must 
be safeguarded before the 
states would consent to dele- 
gate any part of their sover- 
eignty to the federal gov- 
ernment. Two well-defined 
political parties were formed 
as a consequence of the dif- 
fering opinions on this ques- 
tion, to wit : the Federalists, 
who favored the adoption of 
the Constitution, and the 
Anti-Federalists, who were 
opposed to it. In Virginia 
the Anti-Federalists were led 
by the brilliant Revolution- 
ary orator, Patrick Henry, 
and in Massachusetts Sam- 
uel Adams led the opposition to the new plan, lliese men 
and many others thought that the states were delegating too 
much of their power to the central government and feared 
that in time this power might be exercised to the injury of 
the states. The Federalists, under the leadership of such men 
as Washington, Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, favored 




ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



I So STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the adoption of the Constitution, because they beheved that 
it was the best plan obtainable at the time, and that unless 
it was accepted disunion and anarchy w^ould ensue/ The 
Federalist view prevailed, and by 1788 all the states except 
two. North Carolina and Rhode Island,. had ratified the Con- 
stitution. Massachusetts and several others ratified it with 
the understanding that it should be so amended as to safe- 
guard the rights of the states. - 

Virginia and New York ratified on condition that the 
powers they surrendered could be resumed if it became neces- 
sarv to do so for their own welfare. Control of commerce 
and the power of taxation were too dear' and too vital to be 
surrendered unconditionally. North Carolina ratified the 
Constitution in 1789, and in 1790 Rhode Island ratified and 
entered the union. 

The Kind of Union. Just what kind of union these states 
formed is a question on which many of the w^isest men of 
America have honestly dififered. Some of them hold that it 
has always been an " indissoluble union " ; in the view of 
others the union was an agreement or compact entered into 
bv the states which reserved the right to secede if their inter- 
ests so advised. These facts may be remembered in this 
connection : The latter view was entertained by the states 
when they entered the union, or in all probability there would 
have never been so many as nine states to ratify the Constitu- 
tion. Before 1830 this view was not seriously challenged by 
any great leader or thinker of the country North or South. 
It was cherished as a principle in the South, where the right 
to secede was exercised in 1861, when the southern states 

1 Alexander Hamilton, James ]\Iadison, and John Jay wrote a number 
of papers under assumed names explaining the nature of the new Con- 
stitution and urging its acceptance. These papers are known as the Fed- 
eralist Papers. 

- The first Congress under the Constitution submitted ten amendments 
to the states for ratification. The tenth expressly states that powers not 
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it 
TO THE STATES, ARE RESERVED TO THE STATES. Later, in I/QS, an eleventh 
amendment was passed recognizing the sovereignty of the states. 



THE CRITICAL PERIOD iSi 

withdrew from the union and the War Between the States 
was precipitated. 



THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What, if anything, did the various states get in return for the ces- 
sions of western lands? 2. What state set the example in the cession of 
land? 3. How were the Articles of Confederation adopted? The Con- 
stitution? 4. In the eyes of Europe, what was our standing during this 
period? Who first suggested a convention? WTiat was perhaps the mat- 
ter of greatest dispute between the different states? 5. What was the 
original purpose of the Convention of 1787? 6. Why were the sessions in 
secret? 7. What were the three great compromises about? 8. What was 
at the bottom of all the compromises? 



SOURCE MATERIAL 

General References: Parkman. Struggle for a Continent; Hart, For- 
mation of the Union; Thwaites, France i)i America; Hinsdale, Old North- 
west; Roosevelt, The Winning of the West; Winsor, The Westzvard 
Movement; Bancroft, United States; Frothingham, Rise of the Republic; 
Van Tyne, American Revolution; JNIcLaughlin, Confederation and Consti- 
tution: Fiske, Tlic Critical Period, Xczv France and New England; 
Wilson, American People II; Van Tyne. Loyalists in the Revolution; 
Cooke, i'irginia; Ford, The True Benjamin Franklin; Foster, Century of 
Diplomacy; ^^IcMaster, United States I; Lodge, Washington; Scudder, 
Washington; and other biographies; Bryce, Americaji Commonzi'ealth. 

Sources and Other Readings: Eggleston, American War Ballads I; 
Longfellow, Evangeline and Paul Rcvcre's Ride; Munroe,- At War zcith 
Pontaic; Cooper, Last of the Mphicans and The Spy; Simms, Eutaiv; 
Washington's Journal describing his journey to the Ohio; Cooke, The 
Youth of Jefferson; also Fairfax; Kennedy, Horseshoe Robinson; 
Mitchell, Hugh Wynne; Franklin. Autobiography; Ford, Janice Mere- 
dith; Moore, Songs and Ballads of the American Revolution; Bryant, 
Green Mountain Boys; Abbot, Blue Jackets of '76; Hale, Thankful Blos- 
som; Brady, Commodore Paul Jones; Emerson, Concord Hymn; Thomp- 
son, Alice of Old Vincennes; Brady, For Love of Country; Churchill, 
Richard Carvel; Lowell, Washington From Under the Old Elm; Clark's 
Account of his Campaign in the Illinois country; Cornwallis's Letter to 
Clinton about the surrender of Yorktown; Bryant, Seventy Six; Holmes, 



l82 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Independence Bell; Thackeray, George III; Will Carlton, Little Black- 
Eyed Rebel and The Ride of Jennie McNeil; Warner, Nathan Hale; 
Dd^^ew, Andre and Hale; Whittier, Yorktown; Hart, Source Readers II & 
III ; Ford, The True George Washington; Holmes, Lexington and Ethan 
Allen's Own Account of the Capture of Ticonderoga; Leppard, The Death 
Bed of Benedict Arnold; Patrick Henry, An Appeal to Anns; T. B. Read, 
Tlie Rising in 1776; Hezekiah Butterworth, Crozvn Our Washington; 
Rufus Choate, The Birthday of Washington; George Washington, Rules 
cf Behavior and Journal describing his journey to the Ohio; Francis Park- 
man, The Heights of Abraham. 



Pictures: Taylor, Evangeline ; Trumbull, Death of Montgomery ; and 
other Revolutionary Pictures; Darley, Call to Arms; Leutze, Washington 
Crossing the Dclazvare; Hallowell, Betsy Ross Making the Flag; Duns- 
more, Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge; Daniel French, The 
Minutcman (statue) ; Mac Monnies, Nathan Hale (statue) ; Faed, Wash- 
ington at Trenton; Fournier, Washington and His Mother; Stuart, Wash- 
ington, and Washington at Dorchester Heights; Peace Ball at York- 
town; Page, Paul Revere' s Ride; Houdon, Washington (statue). 



PART II 

UNDER THE CONSTITUTION 

PERIOD IV.— GENERATION OF REVOLU- 
TIONARY FATHERS 

I 789- I 829 
CHAPTER XIII 

TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 

George Washington, President, 1789-1797 
John Adams, Vice-president, 1789-1797 

John Adams, President, 1797-1801 

Thomas Jefferson, Vice-president, 1797-1801 

Inauguration of the New Government. In 1789 the old 
government under the Con- 
federation gave place to the 
new government under the 
Constitution. The day ap- 
pointed for the inauguration 
was the first Wednesday in 
March, which in the year 
1789 fell upon the fourth 
day of the month, ^ All eyes 
were turned upon Washing- 
ton as the first President of 
the republic ; his name gave 
to the new government 
strength at home and dignity 
abroad. His election was 
unanimous. For Vice-presi- 

1 The old Congress under the Confederation had provided for the states 
to choose their presidential electors on the first VVednesday in January, 

183 




JOHN ADAMS 



1 84 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



dent a New England man was preferred, lest sectional jeal- 
ousy should develop in the beginning, and John Adams of 
Massachusetts was chosen for the place. ^ New York, the 




WASHINGTON PASSING THROUGH TRENTON 



capital at that time, made extensive preparations to receive 
the new officials, but the fourth of March came and went 
without a Congress and without a President or a Vice- 
president. On account of the unseasonable weather it was 
April before the members of Congress reached New York and 
the President arrived even later. Washington was escorted 

1789, and for the electors to choose the President on the first Wednesday 
in February. 

^ The people do not vote for the President directly, but for electors, 
each state being entitled to as many electors as she has members in Con- 
gress, including her two senators. These electors elect the President and 
the Vice-president. The original design of this system was that these se- 
lected men would elect the President of their own choice, but under the 
custom and the conduct of political parties the electors chosen in the 
presidential elections every four years cast their votes for the candidates 
named by their respective political parties, so that in effect the people, while 
voting for electors, really are voting for President and Vice-president. 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 185 

from his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia, by a guard of 
honor; women and children strewed flowers in his road and 
everywhere the people gathered to pay their respects to the 
■great general who was now their first President. On April 
30, on the balcony of Federal Hall in Wall Street, New 
York, in the presence of a vast throng of people, Washing- 
ton took the oath of office. He was clad in a suit of deep 
brown with white stockings, after the fashion of his day, 
and carried a sword at his side. He was visibly agitated 
and felt deeply the new responsibilities that rested upon 




RECEPTION OF WASHINGTON' AT NEW YORK CITY 



him. After the oath of office was administered, a great shout 
went up, " Long live George Washington, President of the 
United States." The scene was characteristic of the times 
and of the men who participated in the event. Formality and 
ceremony were observed then to a much greater extent than 
now; and General Washington himself was rather inclined to a 



i86 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

strict observance of the conventionalities of the time. He was 
a man of dignified bearing and commanding figure and on state 
occasions rode in a coach and six, and even when walking he 
was attended by a servant in liveiy. Formal receptions were 
frequently held at the President's mansion and here, in courtly 
fashion, Washington received his friends. 

Condition of the Country. The masses of the people over 
whom Washington was called to preside differed very little 
from the colonists of a quarter century before, though the 
population had greatly increased. The first census taken in 
1790 showed upwards of four million people, about one-fourth 
of whom were negro slaves. This population was densest 
along the seaboard, but the movement that set in after the 
French were driven from the coveted Ohio valley now formed 
a constant stream westward over the Alleghanies. Pack horses 
followed the lonely trails, and flat boats and rafts carried new 
settlers with their small worldly goods into the virgin West. 
Soon many little log-cabin towns sprang up along the river 
banks and before the close of Washington's second administra- 
tion two new states were formed out of the western country 
— Kentucky in 1 792 and Tennessee in 1 796 — while from the 
east in 1791 came Vermont out of the Green Mountain region, 
over which New York and New Hampshire had quarreled for 
many years. ^ 

Cities and Industries. There were only five places in the 
United States — New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, 
and Charleston — that might be called cities and not one of 
these boasted as many as 50,000 population. The new republic 
was a land of farmers. In New England the forests still 
yielded staves, masts, and boards for export, and fishing was 
an important industry. In the South, tobacco, rice, and indigo 
were raised with great profit ; and cotton cultivation, to which 
the vast alluvial plains of the far south were peculiarly adapted, 

1 Kentucky had been a county of Virginia ; Tennessee had been a part of 
North Carolina. When a new state was admitted to the Union, it was to 
enjoy the same rights and privileges as the original thirteen which had 
created the Union. 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 187 




EARLY COTTON GIN 



was beginning to be important. The cotton industry was 
greatly hindered by the expense of removing the lint from the 
seed by hand, but in 1793 EH Whitney, a New England school 
teacher residing in Georgia, invented the cotton gin. This 
machine at once made cot- 
ton-growing the greatest in- 
dustry of the South; it had 
a capacity of 1,000 pounds 
of lint a day, whereas one 
person could pick .by hand 
only five or six pounds a 
day at tlie most. From this 
time forward cotton became 
" king " in the South and 
this region took its place as 
a competitor with India and 
Egypt in supplying the world 
with this staple. At the 

present time the southern states produce two-thirds to three- 
fourths of the entire cotton output of the world. 

New Government. The first duty of the new administra- 
tion was the organization of the government. Three execu- 
ti\'e departments were created : the Department of State, De- 
partment of the Treasury, and Department of War; the heads 
of these departments constituted the cabinet or advisory body 
to the President. Washington filled these offices with able 
men; Thomas Jefferson was made Secretary of State; Alex- 
ander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; and General 
Henry Knox, Secretary of War. The Post Office Department 
continued on its old basis and the office of Attorney-General 
was created.^ These officers were appointed by the President, 
with the advice and consent of the Senate, but the first Con- 
gress decided that they could be removed by the President at 
will. The Supreme Court was organized as provided under 

1 Edmund Randolph of Virginia was the first attorney-general, and 
Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts was the first postmaster-general. The 
last-named official was not admitted to the cabinet until 1829. 



1 88 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




the Constitution and inferior courts were created by Congress. 
The Supreme Court consisted of a chief justice and five 
associate justices; John Jay was the first chief justice. By 
far the most important business of the first session of the first 

Congress was the raising of revenue. 
Under the Constitution revenue meas- 
ures originate in the House of Repre- 
sentatives and that body passed a 
tariff act providing an indirect tax 
on imports. The first tariff, which 
was passed in 1789, was very low, the 
general rate of duties being only about 
five per cent. 

Hamilton's Financial Schemes. It 
was not sufficient to provide only the 
current expenses of the government, 
for there was a heavy burden of debt 
upon the United States and upon the 
separate states as a consequence of 
the Revolutionary War and of the Confederation period. 
These debts and arrears in interest amounted to something 
like $54,000,000, which was a vast sum for that day, due to 
foreign and domestic creditors. It was necessary to discharge 
these obligations or to provide for their payment if the credit 
of the United States at home and abroad was ever to be estab- 
lished. Alexander Hamilton,^ Secretary of the Treasury, 
though a young man, proved to be a great financier and pro- 
posed a series of measures designed to restore the credit of 
the government and at the same time to insure a safe cur- 
rency. The first provision of Hamilton's plan was to refund 
with new bonds the foreign and domestic debt of the Confed- 

1 Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis, in tlie West 
Indies, January 11, 1757. He served with distinction at the battles of Long 
Island, White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton. He was a member of the 
Federal Convention, but lost his influence in that body because he 
favored a strongly centralized, almost monarchical, goyernment. With 
the fall of the Federalist party in 1801, his political career was practically 
ended. He was killed in 1804, in a duel with Aaron Burr. 



JOHN JAY 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 189 

eration at full value ; Congress passed a law to this effect and 
soon the holders of government bonds were gratified to receive 
their interest at fixetl intervals. 

State Debts and Location of the Federal Capital. Another 
part of Hamilton's plan was for the federal government to 
assume the indebtedness of the separate states for the reason 
that it had been incurred for the common weal. Hamilton 
believed in a strong national government which would domi- 




OLI) STATE HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA 



nate the states, and he believed that his plan of assuming the 
debts of the states would encourage men of wealth to look to 
the central government instead of to the states. These debts 
were estimated at about $25,000,000. Vigorous opposition 
developed against this proposal, particularly from those states 
that had already paid a large part of their debt. The com- 
mercial North heartily favored the plan but the agricultural 
South, led by Jefferson and Madison, opposed it. The bill 
was defeated in Congress on its first introduction, but it was 



IQO 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



later revived and became a law under an agreement made by- 
its friends and the friends of a measure for the location 
of the federal capital. The southern members of Congress 
wished the feder'al district to be located on the Potomac River 
but the northern members opposed this location. The sec- 
tional differences on these two measures were very acute, but at 
length there was a compromise and both were passed. Phila- 
delphia became the capital for ten years, from 1790 to 1800, 
and after that a place on the Potomac was to be chosen. A 
few months later Washington selected the site of the present 




WASHINGTON CITY IN 1600 

federal district on the northern bank of the river ^ upon land 
donated by the State of Alaryland. In due time the debts of 
the states were funded. 

The Whiskey Rebellion. In order to increase the current 
revenues, Hamilton proposed an excise tax or an internal duty 
on distilled spirits or liquors. This became a law in 1791. 
In Congress there was comparatively little opposition to this 
act, but in the mountain regions of the West, particularly 
in Pennsylvania, it was bitterly opposed because it fell most 
heavily upon the people of that section. These people, being 
far removed from the markets, and without good roads, con- 

1 Virginia ceded a part of the land on the south side of the Potomac, 
but this was later restored. The Constitution provided that the federal 
district shall not exceed ten miles square. 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY IQT 

verted their corn into whiskey which was a less bulky com- 
mo(Hty. The hardy Westerners thought the excise bore too 
heavily upon them and they were soon in open rebellion. In 
1/94 Washington was compelled to summon the militia to go 
into the western country to restore order and enforce the law, 
but the rebellion melted away upon the appearance of the 
troops. A few of the leaders were arrested but the President 
later issued a general amnesty, or pardon. 

The United States Bank. About the time when this excise 
tax was levied, Hamilton presented a plan for a national 
bank in which the United States should be a stockholder and 
a director.^ The purpose of the institution was to provide a 
deiX)sitory for government funds and to facilitate business by 
affording a steady and ample supply of currency. The bill 
aroused bitter opposition, led by Jefferson, who resisted it on 
the ground that the Constitution nowhere authorized the estab- 
lishment of such a corporation and that Congress was assuming 
too much power. Hamilton's forces contended that the Fed- 
eral government had the right to adopt all means necessary for 
executing its enumerated powers. The bill finally passed both 
houses and the first national bank was chartered in 1791. In 
April, 1792, Congress established a mint at Philadelphia." 

Political Parties. The sharp differences of opinion between 
the two groups of statesmen led by Hamilton and by Jefferson 
soon resulted in the organization of political parties. The 
revenues of the government under Hamilton's financial 
schemes increased, credit was established, and prosperity was 
revived, but these results did not satisfy those who feared the 
power of a centralized government. Hamilton and his asso- 
ciates believed in a liberal or loose construction of the Consti- 
tution ; that is, they held that the government had the right 
to construe the Constitution in a most generous manner. 
Thomas Jefferson and his associates on the other hand believed 
in the strict construction of the Constitution and in safeguard- 

1 The stock of this bank was $10,000,000, one-fifth of which was to be- 
long to the government. 
-The first product of the new mint was the copper cent of 1793. 



192 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



ing the rights of the states against all encroachments by the 
federal government. The Jeffersonian party became known 
as the Republican party, and the Hamiltonian party became 
known as the Federalist party. ^ 

Washington Reelected. In 1792 the second presidential 
election was held and both party leaders urged Washington to 
accept a reelection. The President did not ally himself with 
either political party, and though he had declared himself 
against a second term and earnestly longed for rest and re- 
tirement, he agreed, for the sake of harmony, to accept the 
office again. He was unanimously reelected and Adams was 
reelected to the Vice-presidency. 

Trouble with the Indians. While party strife was de- 
veloping as a result of Hamilton's financial plans and other 
tendencies toward centralization, there was considerable trou- 
ble in the west beyond the Ohio. The Indians were exasper- 
ated by the steady advance of the white man westward, and 
were encouraged in their attitude by the presence of the British, 
their former friends and allies, who had not yet evacuated 
the military posts in the Northwest. The Indians made raid 
after raid on the little settlements along the frontier and an 
army, under General St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest 
Territory, that was sent to subdue them and protect the settlers, 
was cut to pieces by the savages. They became more active 
and daring than ever after this success, and under the leader- 
ship of the famous Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant, they de- 
manded that nearly all of the Ohio country be surrendered to 
them. At last President Washington sent an army, under 
General Anthony Wayne, the hero of Stony Point, who met the 
Indians in battle on the Maumee, not far from where Toledo, 

1 The name " Democrat," which is now applied to the followers of the 
original Jeffersonian doctrines, was first applied to clubs modeled after 
the French revolutionary clubs, and it was used as a term of reproach to 
Jefferson and his followers. For many years afterwards the party was 
spoken of as the Democratic-Republican party. To-day it is known simply 
as the Democratic party. The Federalists were succeeded by the Whigs 
and later by the Republican party. At the present time the Democratic 
party in a general way represents Jeffersonian views, and the Republican 
party in a modified way represents Hamiltonian views. 



1 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 193 

Ohio, now stands, and gained such a signal victory that peace 
was insured to the western country for a long time. 

Foreign Affairs. From the beginning of Washington's sec- 
ond administration in 1793 until 181 5, there was hardly a year 
that the American people did not confront some serious foreign 
difficulty growing out of the confusion in Europe during these 
years. In 1789, the very year in which our government was 
organized under the Constitution, a terrible struggle against 
despotism developed in France; in September, 1792, a French 
republic was set up on the ruins of the ancient monarchy and 
soon afterwards King Louis XVI was sent to his death. Ten 
days later France declared war against England and Spain, 
tlie advocates of the old regime. When the news reached 
America, a wave of enthusiastic sympathy with France swept 
over the country. The American people rejoiced that another 
nation had become a republic and they felt a peculiar fondness 
for France on account of her aid in our war for independence. 

France and the United States. France expected the United 
States to come to her assistance in her war against Great 
Britain, but thoughtful American statesmen, especially Wash- 
ington and Hamilton, and even Jefiferson, who passionately 
sympathized with the struggle of the French, realized that our 
country was still an infant republic and was in no condition 
to engage in war. They agreed that the change of govern- 
ment in France relieved the United States of any obligation 
under the treaty of 1778 and accordingly on April 22, 1793, 
President Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality; he 
declared that this country would receive a minister from 
France, and thus recognize the sister republic; but this was as 
far as the United States felt warranted in encouraging or as- 
sisting the new government. 

" Citizen " Genet. In the meantime " Citizen " Genet, the 
new French minister, had arrived at Charleston and his jour- 
ney northward developed into a continued public ovation.^ 

1 In the French republic, all titles of rank were abolished. The men 
were addressed as " Citizen," and the women as " Citizeness." 



194 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Everywhere he was feted and feasted; leading citizens vied 
with one another in doing him honor and formed democratic 
chibs modeled after those in France. At last, on the very day 
that the neutrality proclamation was published in a Philadel- 
phia newspaper, Genet arrived in that city. The minister's 
head had been completely turned by the reception accorded 
him by the people and, unmindful of the proclamation and of 
the impropriety of his conduct, he proceeded to act as if the 
United States were an ally of France. He enlisted men for 
the French service and authorized privateers to prey upon 
English commerce. When the government remonstrated with 
Genet he insolently threatened to appeal to the people against 
the administration. Finally, upon Washington's request, he 
was recalled by his own government. The Democrats sym- 
pathized strongly with the French in their struggle for 
" Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity " ^ ; the Federalists on the 
other hand rather sympathized with England, hoping to gain 
advantages in English trade; but the misconduct of Genet ral- 
lied both parties to the support of President Washington in 
maintaining the dignity and neutrality of the government. 

Trade Rights of Neutrals. At the same time when the rash 
conduct of Genet was straining our relations with France, 
trouble was threatening with England. When the long war 
with England and France began, the latter nation threw open 
the trade with her colonies to neutral nations. As practically 
all Europe at one time or another was involved in this war, 
the United States was the principal neutral country to profit 
by France's policy. But we hardly began to enjoy the benefits 
of this neutral trade before the British ministry issued orders 
for the seizure of all vessels and cargoes engaged in traffic 
with the French colonies. There was no good feeling between 
the United States and England, and neither of them had been 
quite faithful to all the terms of the treaty of peace of 1783. 
Great Britain had contemptuously refused to make a commer- 
cial treaty with us; she levied unreasonable duties at her ports 

^ These words constituted the slogan of the French Revolutionists. 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 195 

on our jjroducts and cut us off altogether from trade with the 
British West Indies.^ Fresh grievances were now added. 
England was plundering our vessels on the high seas, seizing 
their cargoes of provisions as " contraband of war," treating 
our officers with contempt, and impressing our seamen into the 
service of English warships on the pretense that they were 
British subjects. The United States claimed the right of a 
neutral nation and contended for the principle that neutral 
ships should be unmolested, or as the principle was phrased in 
that day, " Free ships make free goods." But England 
ignored the principle ; she was the strongest sea power on the 
globe and the United States was one of the weakest. 

The Jay Treaty, 1794, and the Treaty with Spain. Public 
indignation ran high in America and the war spirit was rife. 
But once more Washington's great common sense averted the 
danger, and negotiations for a ];eaceful adjustment were un- 
dertaken. John Jay, then the chief justice of the Supreme 
Court, was sent as a special envoy to England and a treaty 
was made as follows : first, both nations agreed to enforce 
the terms of the treaty of 1783; second, England agreed to 
make compensation for the capture of American vessels; 
third, certain commercial concessions were made, but the 
West India trade was not thrown open to the United States. 
England would not agree that '' Free ships make free goods," 
nor would she renounce the right of impressment. The Jay 
treaty w-as to expire by limitation in twelve years. When its 
terms became known in the United States there was a storm 
of public protest. The insulting grievance of impressment 
of our seamen had not been abated and there was widespread 
opposition to the ratification of the treaty. Only the great 
personal influence of Washington prevented its defeat in the 

1 England had not evacuated the ports in the Northwest, nor had she 
paid for the slaves and other property carried off at the close of the 
kevolution. On the other hand, we had not met our obligations in that 
the Loyalists were mistreated, and many debts due the English merchants 
had not been paid. In a treaty negotiated by John Jay, England had 
agreed to remove her troops from the Northwest, and we agreed to settle 
the debts due to English merchants. 



196 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Senate and it was adopted by a bare constitutional majority/ 
In the next year, 1795, a favorable treaty was negotiated with 
Spain whereby we obtained free navigation of the lower 
Mississippi River and she acknowledged the thirty-first parallel 
as the southern boundary of the United States. 




Copyright Detroit Photo Co. 

MT. VERNON, THE HOME OF WASHINGTON 

Washington's Farewell Address. Another presidential 
election was held in 1796, and, though Washington was urged 
to serve again, he positively refused to accept a third term and 
thus established a precedent which has ever since been observed. 
He stated that he would rather be on his farm than to be made 
emperor of the world; and he retired to his home at Mt. 
Vernon, where he spent the remainder of his days as a private 
citizen, attending to the affairs of his plantation and living 
the life of a dignified, prosperous country gentleman. In 
1796 he issued his farewell address to the American people, 
and the new republic experienced a profound regret upon 
realizing that it had lost the public service of its greatest 
man. 

1 The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority of the Senate for the 
ratification of treaties. 



TWEL\'E YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 197 

Election of Adams. The election of 1796 was the first great 
party contest for the presidency. The Federalists put forth 
John Adams, who had served eight years as Vice-president, as 
their candidate, while Thomas Jefferson was the choice of the 
Democratic-Republicans. Adams was elected by a majority 
of only three votes and became President, while his opponent 
became Vice-president.^ Adams was a man of devoted pa- 
triotism and of much wisdom, and he had served his country 
well since the early days of the Revolution; but he was lacking 
in tact, did not easily make friends, and sometimes he was 
misunderstood and unjustly criticised.^ He was also a little 
sensitive about being " president by three votes." The be- 
ginning of his administration was marked by successful 
achievements, but his term ended in confusion and disaster to 
his party. 

X. Y. Z. Affair. Hardly had Adams been elected when 
fresh foreign complications developed. France bitterly re- 
sented the Jay treaty and the election of a Federalist because 
she looked upon that party as pro-British in sympathy. The 
United States had refused to help her in her war with England 
and it appeared to her that the new treaty established friendly 
terms with her great rival. Our minister, Charles C. Pinckney, 
was dismissed with little ceremony, the French minister to the 
United States was recalled, and France began seizing American 

1 According to the original method, the candidate who received the 
majority of the electoral votes, hecame President, while tlie candidate 
who received the next greatest number of votes became the Vice-president. 
Later the method was changed, and candidates are now named for each 
office separately, and are so elected. 

2 John Adams, the second President of the United States, was l^orn at 
Quincy, Massachusetts, Octol)er 30, 1735. He was a graduate of Harvard 
college, and began the practice of law in 1758. Throughout the period 
of the quarrel with the mother country, he was closely associated witli 
Samuel Adams, his cousin, in the political leadership of Massachusetts. 
He was a member of the Continental Congresses, and used his great 
influence in behalf of separation from the mother country. Adams was 
one of the committee appointed to prepare the Declaration of Independence, 
of which Thomas Jefferson was the chief author. He was our first min- 
ister to England. After the close of his term as President, he retired 
to his home in Massachusetts, and he died on the same day as Jefferson, 
July 4, 1826, just fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

i 



198 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

ships and cargoes on the high seas/ Adams became President 
on March 4, 1797, and in May he called a special session of 
Congress to consider the situation. But, emulating the exam- 
ple of Washington, he strove to avert war and commissioned 
John Marshall, a Federalist, Elbridge Gerry, a Democrat, and 
Charles C. Pinckney, the Federalist minister whom France 
had dismissed, as special envoys to make a last effort to reach 
a peaceful understanding with France. These ministers were 
never formally received by the Directory, as the French ex- 
ecutive department was then called, but that body sent their 
agents to confer with the American embassy and to make it 
plain that they would consider terms of peace and accommoda- 
tion only upon the payment of a large sum of money intended 
for the pockets of the members of the Directory. To these 
overtures the American ambassadors replied that we had " mil- 
lions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." ^ The agents 
of the Directory were described anonymously in the report 
of the negotiations as X. Y. Z. 

Settlement with France. War with France now seemed in- 
evitable. Congress enlarged the army and made Washington 
commander-in-chief, established the navy, licensed privateers, 
and ordered the capture of French vessels. Ships of the new 
navy were soon at sea and for two and one-half years there 
was sharp retaliation which cost France dearly. Just at this 
time Napoleon Bonaparte began to dominate France and 
when he signified a desire to make peace on fair terms his 
o\ertures were promptly accepted.^ 

Alien and Sedition Laws. During the excitement over the 
French war, John Adams was, for the first and last time in his 
life, genuinely popular. Addresses were sent to him from all 
parts of the country in praise of his patriotism and courage. 

1 France had been committing like depredations continuously since 1793, 
but her cruisers were not very numerous, and the trouble over her searches 
and seizures was never so serious as that with England. 

- Pinckney is said to have made this famous reply. 

3 Napoleon would not agree to make compensation for the damage done 
to our commerce, and the " French Spoliation Claims," growing out of 
the affair, long remained unsettled. 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 199 

Songs were written in his honor, the chief of which, Hail 
Columbia, is preserved as one of our national airs to-day.^ 
But in their hour of triumph Adams and his party went too 
far. Democratic newspapers which had been friendly to 
France since the time of Genet's mission did not hesitate to 
criticise in the severest terms the President and the whole 
Federalist policy. The Federalists controlled both houses of 
Congress and they resolved to be rid of newly arrived aliens 
who were charged with formulating resistance to the govern- 
ment, and to stop the publication of articles that were called 
seditious. Drastic measures, known as the Alien and Sedition 
Acts, were the result of this spirit of partisan retaliation. The 
first of these acts empowered the President to arrest and im- 
prison or expel any alien or foreigner whom he should suspect 
of being dangerous to the government. A naturalization act 
was also passed raising the required terms of residence to 
fourteen years before a foreigner could become a citizen.^ 
The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish severe criticisms 
of the government, of Congress, or of the President. The 
main purpose of the law seems to have been to silence Dem- 
ocratic newspapers. The Federalist organs had never dealt 
tenderly with the opposition, but these were unmolested. 

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. The Democrats of 
that day and the most enlightened statesmen of later times con- 
sidered that the Alien and Sedition laws were unconstitutional 
since they restrained freedom of speech and of the press. 
Jefferson feared that such violations of the Constitution might 
lead to dismemberment of the union, and he resolved to make 
an appeal to the people through the state legislatures. The 
legislature of Kentucky adopted a set of resolutions framed 
by Jefferson himself and a little later the legislature of Vir- 
ginia adopted a similar set of resolutions written by James 
Madison. These resolutions declared that the Constitution 

1 Hail Columbia was written by Joseph Ilopkinson, 1798. It was set to 
the music of the President's March, which was composed for Washington's 
inauguration. 

~ The former naturalization law had required only five years' residence. 



200 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



was a compact under which the states had delegated to the 
federal government certain powers, but had reserved all other 
powers to themselves; that the states were not obliged to ob- 
serve an objectionable law which was held to be beyond the 
delegated power of the central government; and that "having 
no common judge, each party has equal right to judge for 
itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of 
redress." Kentucky went so far as to assert that under such 
circumstances nullification (to declare void and of no effect) 
was the rightful remedy. Such were the famous Kentucky 
and Virginia resolutions. 

Death of Washington. While the controversy over the 
radical measures of the Federalists was at its point of greatest 

;^ bitterness, there came a sud- 

den hush upon the strife. 
Factional clamor ings 
ceased, for Washington, the 
universally beloved, was 
dead.^ This great man, 
without whose lofty patri- 
otism and remarkable gen- 
eralship the Revolution could 
hardly have been won, with- 
out whose manliness and 
statesmanship the Union 
could hardly have been estab- 
lished, had passed forever from the walks of men. His fame 
had spread abroad and in distant lands his death was regarded 

1 Washington was born in 1732, the year the colony of Georgia was 
estabhshcd. From the time he was twenty-one years of age, practically 
until his death, he was closely associated with the history of the country. 
His ambition had been to hold a commission in the British army, but 
when the break with the mother country came, he stood by his native 
Virginia. Washington was tall and muscular;, he was an excellent marks- 
man, a fine swordsman and horseman. He was a man of great personal 
courage, and he possessed a rugged honesty and a devoted unselfishness 
which endeared him to all men. While riding about his plantation he was 
caught in a rain and hail storm, and took a cold, which resulted in his death 
on December 14, 1799. 




WASHINGTON S FLUTE AND 
HARPSICHORD 



TWELVE YEARS OF FEDERALIST SUPREMACY 201 

as a loss to mankind. He was '* first in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen." ^ 

Jefferson's Election. The Federalists, by their assumption 
of unwarranted power, lost their hold on the people, and the 
long-standing quarrel between Hamilton and Adams further 
weakened the party by dividing it into factions. " In the elec- 
tion of 1800, Adams was defeated and the Federalists for- 
ever lost control of the Presidency. Thomas Jefferson and 
Aaron Burr were the candidates of the triumphant Democrats, 
but an unexpected complication arose. Precisely the same 
number of votes was cast for each of these candidates. In 
case of a tie, the President is chosen by the House of Repre- 
sentatives, the members voting by states. After some delay 
Jefferson was chosen President and Burr Vice-president. In 
consecjuence of this election the twelfth amendment to the Con- 
stitution was passed by which all candidates for the Presidency 
and Vice-presidency are named as such on the ballot.^ . 

The Midnight Judges. The election over, the Federalists 
spent their few remaining months of power in trying to insure 
the suj^remacy of their party in one branch of the government. 
John Marshall of Virginia was made chief justice of the Su- 
preme Court and for over thirty years this great jurist pre- 
sided over the highest court in the land. A judiciary act was 
passed in 1801, a few weeks before the close of the administra- 
tion, creating a number of new federal courts when there was 
little or no need for them and Adams filled all these judgeships 
with strong Federalists.^ The story goes that he sat up until 
late in the night of March 3, 1801, making the appointments, 
and ever afterward these judges were called the " midnight 
judges." 

1 Henry Lee, the Light Horse Harry of Revolutionary days, delivered 
his eulogy in Congress, and the quoted words are from his speech on that 
occasion. 

- This amendment was passed in 1804. 

3 The judiciary act was repealed during Jefferson's first administration. 



202 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What was the difference between the AntifederaUsts in 1787-8 and 
the Republicans of 1796? 2. Was the doctrine of strict construction ap- 
plied to a U. S. post-ofnce or U. S. bank? Was the doctrine of loose 
construction applied to the same? 3. How much cotton was exported in 
1793? In 1800? 4. What was the price of cotton in 1793? 5. What in- 
vention in England had brought about a condition to render England a 
great market for raw cotton? 6. Why did England oppose the French 
Revolution? 



CHAPTER XIV 

DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 

Thomas Jefferson, President, 1801-1809 
Aaron Burr, Vice-president, 1801-1805 
George Clinton, Vice-president, 1805-1809 

New Party in Power. At twelve o'clock noon on the fourth 
of March, 1801, Thomas Jefferson, accompanied by a few- 
friends, walked quietly from his boarding house to the partly 
finished capitol at Washington and took the oath 'of office.^ 
Here, amid the simplest surroundings, in the straggling city of 
Washington, the new Democracy was installed.- Everything 
bespoke the republican simplicity which Jefferson loved and 
exemplified. In manners and ideas, the new President was 
quite different from his predecessors. Washington and Adams 
deemed it proper for the head of the government to observe 
much ceremony and to stand somewhat apart from the people, 
but Jefferson maintained intimate intercourse with the masses 
at all times ; he did not hold formal weekly receptions or levees 

1 Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia, in 1743. He was a student 
at William and Mary College at the beginning of the controversy with 
the mother country. In his young manhood, he was a member of the 
House of Burgesses, and later a member of the second Continental Con- 
gress. During Confederation days, he was minister to France. After the 
organization of the government under the Constitution, his life was inti- 
mately interwoven with the development of the republic. Jefferson was 
a man of wonderful intellect and resources. He possessed a marvelous 
power of leadership; was a profound student and an accomplished scholar; 
was deeply interested in scientific investigation, and he could read several 
languages with ease; our decimal system of currency was of his devising, 
and he was founder of the University of Virginia. He was a fine horse- 
man, an accomplished musician, and a successful farmer. 

- In 1800 the capital had been removed to the city of Washington. The 
corner stone of the capitol building was laid in 1793, by Washington him- 
self. 

203 



204 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



in courtly fashion, but he entertained hospitably and the White 
House was always open to visitors. This was most pleasing 

to the people who had become im- 
patient of the formalities prac- 
ticed by Federal officeholders. 
Jefferson cjuietly put aside another 
precedent of Federalist days. In- 
stead of opening Congress with a 
formal address as Washington and 
Adams had done, he communicat- 
ed his recommendations in a writ- 
ten message. This relieved him of 
the necessity of speaking in public, 
to which he was very much averse. 
Economy was the watchword of 
the new administration and under 
the able management of Albert 
Gallatin, Secretary of the Treas- 
ur}^, the public debt was much di- 
minished. The army was greatly 
reduced and far less was spent on the navy. 

Transfer of Louisiana. By far the most important event of 
Jefferson's administration was the purchase of Louisiana, the 
western half of the most valuable river valley on the face of 
the earth. This vast country, which La Salle's exploration 
at the close of the seventeenth century had given to France, had 
been lost to her as a consequence of the French and Indian 
wars; the eastern part of the valley passing to her old enemy, 
England, and the western half and control of the river's mouth 
to her friend and ally, Spain. In 1783 when the independence 
of the United States was acknowledged, Spain still held Louis- 
iana and spread consternation in the W^est by threatening to 
close the mouth of the great river. When Jefferson became 
President, Louisiana no longer belonged to Spain. Napoleon 
Bonaparte, the dictator of France and would-be master of all 
Europe, was fired with the purpose of winning back for France 




THOMAS JEFFERSON 



DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 



205 



her fomier possessions on this continent. He forced Spain to 
cede Louisiana to France and the mouth of the Mississippi 
was closed to the trade of our southern states. 

When this news reached the United States there was intense 
excitement throughout the West and the people were eager 
at a moment's notice to descend the Mississippi River and 
seize New Orleans. The situation was critical. Louisiana 




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MONTICELLO, THE HOME OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 



in the hands of weak and inefficient Spain, and Louisiana 
in the hands of France under the masterful Bonaparte, were 
entirely different. From Spain there was little or nothing to 
fear, but the aggressiveness of France would be a constant 
danger to the Lhiited States. \¥e must obtain control of New 
Orleans in order to have an outlet for our western commerce, 
or we must enter the European wars and fight France side by 
side with England. 

Louisiana Purchase. President Jefferson sent James Mon- 
roe as special envoy to join Robert R. Livingston, our minister 
to France, in a negotiation for the purchase of the island of 
New Orleans and West Florida for which they were authorized 



206 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



to spend ten million dollars. Much to the surprise of our min- 
isters, Napoleon, in 1803, offered to sell to the United States 
the whole of Louisiana for fifteen million dollars. His offer 
was promptly accepted and thus the vast country between the 

Mississippi River 




and the 
Mountains, 



Rocky 
extend- 



ing from Canada on 
the north to Texas 
on the south, fell in- 
to our hands and the 
territory of the 
United States was 
more than doubled.^ 
It developed that 
Napoleon was face 
to face with another 
war with England 
and the weakness of 
the French navy 
made it impossible 
for him to hold Louisiana, and hence he was willing to part 
with that territory in order to prevent it from falling into the 
hands of England, his bitter foe. 

The wily monarch congratulated himself that he had 
replenished his purse, and he rejoiced that he had sold Louis- 
iana to a country that some day might humble the proud 
" mistress of the seas." Everywhere throughout the United 
States there was rejoicing over the great event, for at last we 
had an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico.^ But there was one dis- 
cordant note. New England perceived that this vast terri- 
tory to the south and west would mcrease the influence of those 

1 The boundaries of Louisiana remained in dispute until 1819. 

- In Louisiana, among the Creoles and French of New Orleans, there 
was much dissatisfaction over the prospect of a leveling of old class dis- 
tinctions by the new " democracy and equality " regime. 



CABILDO BUILDING, NEW ORLEANS 

(In this building the transfer of Louisiana 
by Spain to France and again by France to 
the United States was formally made.) 



DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 



207 



sections and decrease her own.^ New England leaders bit- 
terly denounced the purchase of Louisiana and suggested that 
the time had come to secede from the Union and set up an 
independent confederacy at the North. 

New Territory Explored. Within the next few years 
several expeditions were sent out to explore the new territory. 
In 1804 a party, under the command of Lewis and Clark, went 
into the region 
northwest of the 
M i ss issi p pi.^ 
They started 
from St. Louis, 
then a strag- 
gling village of 
log cabins, on 
May 14, 1804, 
and ascended the 
Missouri River 
to its head wa- 
ters. Thence 
these 
spirits 



daring 
made 




MOUNTAIN TRAIL IN THE COUNTRY 
LEWIS AND CLARK 



TRAVERSED BY 



their way west- 
ward across the summit of the Rockies and descended the 
Columbia River along its westward course to the Pacific, 

^ Some statesmen questioned the purchase of Louisiana, because there 
was no specific warrant in the Constitution for acquiring territory. Presi- 
dent Jefferson himself desired a Constitutional amendment; but this 
process was looked upon as too slow, for delay might prove fatal — 
Xapoleon might change his mind ; so the President took the responsibility 
of purchasing the territory, and after the new region was acquired he 
suggested an amendment to the Constitution. But other Democratic states- 
men seemed satisfied with the approbation of the majority of the people. 
While the Constitution lacks a specific warrant for the purchase of ter- 
ritory, it is a fair assumption that the framers of the Constitution deemed 
it unnecessary to set out in express words a right, which in the nature of 
things must inhere in any government for its own protection, as well as 
for its own development. The Supreme Court later rendered an opinion 
to this effect. 

- This Clark was a brother of George Rogers Clark, of Revolutionary 
fame. 



208 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



reaching the shores of that ocean in October, 1805. Soon the 
explorers took up their homeward journey and in September, 
1806, they reached St. Louis. They had been absent nearly 
two years and had traveled more than eight thousand miles 
in boats, on horseback, and on foot. Throughout all their 



w 







ROUTES TAKEN BY LEWIS AND CLARK AND BY ZEBULON PIKE IN EXPLORING 
THE NEW TERRITORY 

journey and hardships, only one of their party had deserted, 
one had died, and one Indian had been killed. This explora- 
tion gave some idea of the vast extent and the immense wealth 
of the far West, and became the basis of our claim to the 
Oregon country.^ 

1 In 1791 Captain Robert Gray, of Boston, had entered the Pacific. He 
discovered the Columbia River which he named for his vessel. Five years 



DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 



209 



Pike's Expeditions. While Lewis and Clark were in the 
Northwest, two other exploring parties were sent out under 
Colonel Zebulon Pike. The first went northward to the source 
of the Mississippi; later Colonel Pike ascended the Arkansas 
far into the West, passed through Colorado and discovered the 
peak which now bears his name. He went as far to the south- 
west as the Spanish settlements on the Rio Grande. 

Fulton's Steamboat. When Louisiana was purchased the 
common impression was that in all probability one hundred 
years would elapse before it would be anything more than a 




Fulton's first steamboat, the clermont 

wilderness. The regions between the Alleghanies and the 
Mississippi had not been settled, although the state of Ohio, the 
third commonwealth to be erected out of the West, had been 
admitted to the Union in 1803. But the first half of the nine- 
teenth century was to reveal many marvelous changes in the 
means of transportation and communication, and the West was 
destined to grow as if by magic. The first of these changes 
came while Jefferson was yet President. In 1807, Robert 
Fulton's invention of the steamboat ])roved to Ije successful. 

after the Lewis and Clark exploration. John Jacob Astor in_ 181 1 estab- 
lished Astoria, a fur-trading post at the mouth of the Columbia. 



210 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

His first craft, the Clermont, which the people nicknamed 
" Fulton's Folly," undertook to make the trip on the Hudson 
River from New York to Albany. On the day advertised, 
enormous crowds gathered on the banks of the river to witness 
the venture, though few people entertained the slightest hope 
of seeing a boat move without sails or oars. The little 
Clermont, on her first effort, moved slowly but surely up the 
stream and the populace shouted in surprise, " She moves, she 
moves ! " The trip of 150 miles was made in thirty-two hours, 
which was rapid traveling in those days. It was not long 
before steamboats were plying back and forth on the rivers, 
penetrating far into the West, laden with passengers and 
freight, and defying wind and current.^ These queer-looking 
vessels, puffing forth huge clouds of fire and smoke, struck 
terror to the hearts of many who saw them for the first time. 
The superstitious thought that the end of the world was surely 
at hand. 

War with Tripoli. Jefferson was a lover of peace as well 
as a believer in democracy. He had dreams of universal 
amity ; of a time when nations would settle their differences 
by arbitration rather than by appeal to arms ; yet once during 
his first administration we had occasion to take up arms. For 
hundreds of years the Mohammedan princes of the Barbary 
States had made piracy on the Mediterranean their chief busi- 
ness. Tripoli and other towns on the northern coast of 
Africa were nests of pirates. Unless tribute money was paid 
to these highwaymen of the sea, they captured vessels, con- 
fiscated their cargoes, and either held the captives for ransom 
or sold them into slavery. The United States, following the 
custom of European nations, had paid tribute to these Barbary 
princes for the privilege of allowing our merchant vessels to 
navigate the Mediterranean in peace. But the pirates became 
more and more greedy in their exactions, and at last the Pasha 

1 The Savannah, in 1819, made the first trip by steam across the Atlantic. 
She started from Savannah, Georgia. Not for twenty years afterwards, 
however, was ocean navigation by steam permanently established. 



DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 



21 I 



of Tripoli insolently sent word that he would wait six months 
for a handsome present from us and if it were not forth- 
coming he would declare war on the United States. The pres- 
ent was sent to him rather sooner than he expected but in an 
unexpected way, for soon a little fleet of American vessels un- 
der the command of Commodore Preble appeared off Tripoli 
with frowning cannon. Tripoli was bombarded and the Pasha 
meekly agreed to live at 
peace with America without 
tribute, and soon other Bar- 
bary States in discretion 
emulated his example. This 
little war served to give 
training to our sailors, and, 
by a daring exploit. Lieuten- 
ant Decatur gained a place 
among our naval heroes. 
The American warship, 
P Jul ad dp Ilia, had been cap- 
tured by the pirates and the 
Mohammedan ensign took 
the place of "Old Glory" 
at her mast head. Decatur, 
with seventy-five men, sailed 
boldly into the harbor of 
Tripoli to rescue the ship. 
While the Tripolitans were 
looking on, he reached the 
Philadelphia, set fire to her, 
flames. Decatur and his gallant crew, amid a storm of shot 
from the surprised pirate port, swept out of the harbor and 
regained the open sea. 

English Orders and French Decrees. In 1804 Jefferson 
was reelected to the Presidency and George Clinton of New 
York succeeded Burr as Vice-president. Jefferson's first ad- 
ministration had been one of peace, except for the trouble 




STEPHEN DECATUR 

and soon she was a mass of 



212 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

with Tripoli, but in his second administration he was compeUed 
to exercise ah his wonderful power over his party to prevent 
the United States from plunging headlong into the European 
struggle, which, since 1792, had continued with hardly a 
breathing space. France and England were still striving to 
destroy each other and each tried to force the other into sub- 
mission by smothering its trade. England issued a series of 
" Orders in Council," in which she declared practically every 
port of Europe in a state of blockade and forbade neutral ships 
to enter these harbors. These orders were to be enforced by 
captures at sea. Napoleon, now emperor of the French and 
lord of half of Europe besides, retaliated by a series of de- 
crees which forbade neutral vessels to enter British ports on 
pain of seizure and instituted a boycott upon all English goods 
found in France or in her allied states. 

The Chesapeake and the Leopard. The American ships 
floated almost the only neutral flag on the seas ; they had be- 
come the chief carriers of the world, and transported to Eu- 
ropean ports the products of every climate. Upon the United 
States, therefore, would fall the weight of this controversy be- 
tween France and England.^ Soon American ships were cut 
off from almost every port in Europe and American property 
was seized by the wholesale on the high seas and American 
seamen were impressed into British service.^ In June, 1807, 
the people of the United States were aroused by one particular 
circumstance to a martial spirit somewhat like that in the days 
of the X. Y. Z. affair. The British frigate Leopard met the 
United States frigate Chesapeake just outside the capes of Vir- 

1 The Jay treaty had expired. 

- The harsh discipHne and poor pay in the British navy caused frequent 
desertions. It was a critical time. England, upholding, as she believed, 
the liberties of Europe, felt that she could not lose her seamen. Like all 
quarrels, the impressment controversy had two sides. Very often when an 
English ship would put into an American harbor, the whole crew would 
desert, take out false naturalization papers, and the English captain would 
find bimself without a crew. But the English captains were not always 
dareful whom they seized. Before the war of 1812, England had searched 
more than nine hundred of our ships, and impressed more than four thou- 
sand Americans into British service. 



DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 213 

sinia and demanded the surrender of three deserters, two of 
whom were Americans that had been forced into the British 
navy and had escaped. The commander of the Chesapeake 
refused the demand, whereupon the Leopard opened fire and 
kihed and wounded more than twenty of the American crew.^ 

The Embargo. This outrage, coming as a chmax to the 
irritation produced by the Enghsh Orders and the French De- 
crees, provoked fierce anger among the American people and 
a demand for instant war, but Jeft'erson preserved his poise. 
To go to war with both France and England would mean 
suicide; to submit tamely to these injuries and insults would 
mean loss of honor and dignity. To save the situation Jeffer- 
son proposed measures of retaliation upon the trade of France 
and England who tormented us in punishing each other. In 
response to the President's recommendation Congress passed 
an Embargo Act, which forbade the departure of any vessel 
of the United States to a foreign port. If American ships 
could not be safe from attack on the seas, they would better 
stay at home. The products upon which the English mer- 
chants depended would be cut off and they would confront 
commercial ruin. 

The Non-intercourse Act. The Embargo Act was designed 
to hurt England and France, but it was soon evident that it 
was injuring our own trade as much as our worst enemy could 
wish. Shipping interests and the export trade were almost 
paralyzed. Fanners found that their crops had little value if 
they could not be sent to market. The South perhaps suffered 
most of all because there was little sale for her great staples, 
tobacco, cotton, etc. ; her capital could not be easily diverted 
to other channels and her negro slaves could not be discharged, 
but had to be supported. The people of New England were 
engaged chiefly in commerce and the Embargo Act so inter- 
fered with their business that smuggling became common and 
a brisk trade with Canada was developed. Congress was com- 

^ Four years later, England made reparation for this outrage, by appro- 
priating money to the families of the slain and injured. 



214 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

pelled to pass a stringent Enforcing Act, which New England 
resented so bitterly that she began to talk of nullifying the Em- 
bargo Act and of secession. So great and so general was the 
dissatisfaction with the Embargo Act that it was repealed in 
1809, just a short time before Jefferson's second term expired. 
In its place Congress passed the Non-intercourse Act which 
forbade trade with England and France, but permitted it with 
other nations. 

The Burr Conspiracy. During" these troublous times leading 
to the Embargo, Aaron Burr, the former Vice-president, was 
tried for treason. He had lost the support of a large part of 
the Democrats and in 1804 the party had ignored him and 
elected George Clinton of New York to the vice-presidency. 
Burr became a candidate for governor of New York on an in- 
dependent ticket; but Hamilton, the great Federalist leader, 
exerted all his influence against him and accomplished his de- 
feat. Stung by this humiliation. Burr challenged Hamilton 
to a duel and killed him. Popular indignation over the tragedy 
was so great that Burr became an outcast; in 1805 he went 
into the Louisiana country and for the next few months his 
life is shrouded in mystery. He began collecting provisions, 
arms, and troops, but just what his plans were was never made 
clear. Some thought that he was endeavoring to establish a 
separate republic by the secession of the West from the East; 
others thought that he contemplated establishing an empire in 
the Southwest by conquering Texas or Mexico or some other 
of the Spanish lands. In a general way he was suspected of 
harboring some desperate and treasonable scheme. At last he 
was arrested and tried for treason, but there was not suffi- 
cient evidence that he had levied war against the United States, 
or had given aid and comfort to the country's enemies, and he 
was acquitted. After this Burr left the United States and 
went here and there over the world lonely and hopeless. After 
several years he returned and lived and died in obscurity. 

Election of 1808. Another presidential election was held in 
1808. By this time the Federalists had grown weaker and 



DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION 215 

weaker, and there was no question that political power 
would remain in the hands of the Democrats. Jefferson had 
requests from several states to serve a third term, but he re- 
fused because he believed that successive reelections would lead 
to a life tenure, and because he ardently favored the Democratic 
principle of rotation in office.^ James Madison, who had been 
Jefferson's Secretary of State, was chosen, and on the fourth 
of March, 1809, cheered by thousands of people and escorted 
by a body of local cavalrymen, the fourth President of the 
United States took the oath of office. He wore a suit of home 
manufacture, which was made of cloth woven from the wool 
of merino sheep raised in the United States. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. Name other great men of that day besides Jefferson who were Vir- 
ginians. 2. Describe the population of New Orleans in 1803. 3. Why 
were the people of Tennessee and Western Kentucky so anxious as to 
who controlled Louisiana? 4. Under what flags has Louisiana passed? 

5. What invention had made possible the steam boat? Name the inventor. 

6. Why was our country almost the only neutral power at this time? 

7. How was the Embargo Act a disappointment to its authors? 8. Give 
evidence that the Union was still not well cemented. 9. Compare Jeffer- 
son's reason for refusing a third term with Washington's? 

1 Jefferson's action following on that of Washington, established the 
two-term precedent for the presidential ofiice. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE WAR OF l8l2: FREEDOM ON THE SEAS 

James ]Madison, President, 1809-1817 
George Clinton, \'ice-president, 1809-1813 
Elbridge Gerry, Vice-president, 1813-1817 

Napoleon's Trickery. Upon President Madison fell the 
task of upholding the honor of the country in the face of the 
English Orders and the French Decrees, and, like his great 
predecessor. Jefferson, he first tried the weapon of proclama- 
tion.^ The Non-intercourse Act, forbidding commerce with 
France and England, had been passed a few days before Jeffer- 
son's term of office expired. The United States agreed to re- 
voke this act if France and England would repeal the obnoxious 
Decrees and Orders, and they each in turn agreed to a repeal 
if the other nation would do likewise. Finally Napoleon 
claimed that he had revoked the Decrees, but England knew 
him better than we did and, doubting his good faith, refused 
to repeal her Orders.- The Non-intercourse Act was repealed 
as far as France was concerned and many of the American 

1 James ]\Iadison was born in Virginia in 1751. He was graduated at 
Princeton College in 1771, and from that time until the close of his second 
term as President, he played an important part in the great events of 
the country. His greatest service was as a member of the Federal Con- 
vention in 1787, which presented the Constitution. Together with Alex- 
ander Hamilton and John Jay, he wrote a series of papers, known as 
the Federalist Papers, urging upon the states the acceptance of the Con- 
stitution. In 1817 Madison retired to his country home at Montpelier. 
where he took great interest in promoting agriculture. His wife, Dolly 
Madison, as her friends called her. was greatly admired for her beauty 
and accomplishments. Madison died in 1836. 

- While these matters were being considered, the United States frigate. 
President, met the British sloop of war, Little Belt. The vessels fired 
on each other, and the Little Belt came off second best. The Americans 
rejoiced that the firing on the Chesapeake was avenged. 

216 



THE WAR OF 1812 217 

ships went into French ports only to find that the United 
States had been tricked, for the Decrees had not been repealed ; 
our vessels were seized and property worth millions was con- 
fiscated by the treacherous Napoleon. 

Indian Troubles. Meanwhile, events were occurring in the 
United States in which England seemed to play a part. The 
Indians in the Northwest were in a state of war. This trouble 
was ever old and ever new — the persistent encroachment of 
the whites and the stubborn resistance of the red men. Gen- 
eral William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana territory, 
made a treaty with several tribes and purchased their lands on 
the upper Wabash. Tecumseh and his twin brother, the 
Prophet, who belonged to a tribe not interested in the cession, 
ignored the treaty on the contention that the lands belonged to 
all the tribes together and could not be alienated. Tecumseh 
had a deep-laid plan of uniting all the Indian tribes against the 
whites to check the westward movement. England was sus- 
pected, though unjustly, of supplying these Indians with arms 
and ammunition. Along the frontier there was constant ma- 
rauding and General Harrison marched into the Indian coun- 
try to punish the offenders. In a single battle at Tippecanoe 
the conspiracy was checked. Hundreds of the Indians crossed 
into Canada where they were later found fighting in the British 
army. 

The Twelfth Congress. Much as Madison struggled for 
peace, the country seemed to drift inevitably toward war. Al- 
though France had given us as much cause for resentment as 
England, still the large majority of the people, except in New 
England, were aflame with resentment against Great Britain 
as the party against whom the United States had the greater 
grievance.^ When the twelfth Congress assembled for the 

1 Madison sent to Congress a collection of documents, known as the 
Henry Letters, for which he paid one John Henry $50,000. These letters, 
proved, so the President declared, that England in time of peace em- 
ployed a secret agent in certain states, particularly Massachusetts, to 
stir up opposition to the war with Great Britain, and to sound the people 
concerning their views as to separation from the Union, and connection 
of some sort with Great Britain. The letters set forth the view that 



2l8 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




first time, many young men — all " war hawks " as they were 
called — made bold declaration of a determination not to en- 
dure any longer the insults heaped upon us by foreign nations. 
Henry Clay of Kentucky, then a young man of most attractive 

personality, full of daring, talented 
to a high degree, and typical of the 
western spirit, was chosen speaker 
of the House of Representatives. 
Another striking" new member was 
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, 
grave, dignified, and a masterful 
debater. This Congress on June i8, 
1812, declared war on England. 
Four main causes were recited : first, 
inciting the Indians to hostilities; 
second, interference with neutral 
trade through the Orders in Coun- 
third, searching our ships and 
their cargoes ; fourth, 
impressment of our seamen. In the fall of the year in 
which war was declared, Madison was reelected to the 
Presidency. 

Surrender of Detroit. At the outbreak of the war, the first 
object was to attack Canada as our main reliance was upon our 
land forces. Three campaigns were planned : one from the 
west by the way of Detroit, another from the center by way 
of Sackett's Harbor and Niagara, and the third from Lake 
Champlain northward. The first blow was to be struck in the 
West. General Hull, a Revolutionary leader then in command 
at Detroit, was to invade Canada, but he was intimidated by a 
large force of English under General Brock and Indian allies 
under Tecumseh. General Brock demanded the surrender of 
Detroit, threatening Hull with Indian atrocities if he did not 
yield. Finally General Hull sent out a white flag and Detroit 

Massachusetts, in all probability, led in such resistance and in such alliance 
with England. 



HENRY CLAY 



Cll 

confiscating 



THE WAR OF 1812 



219 



fell into the hands of the British without a blow.^ Instead 
of our capturing Canada, the British had captured a large part 
of the Northwest. 

Other Canadian Campaigns. General Dearborn had made 
an attempt to march against Montreal from the Lake Cham- 
plain country, but the militia refusing to go beyond Plattsburg 
into Canada, he was forced to turn back and go into winter 
quarters.- The third campaign, for the purpose of conquering 
the Niagara country, was equally unfortunate. Major General 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia, was in com- 
mand of one thousand men at Lewiston. Reen forced by five 
thousand troops, he made an attack on Oueenstown Heights 
which resulted in a serious defeat. On account of a quarrel 
between General V^an Rensselaer, commanding the militia, and 
General Smythe in command of the regulars, the army did not 
act together and was 
soon overwhelmed 
by the British under 
General Brock. ^ 

Fights. Al- 
we had de- 
war on the 
commercial 



Sea 

though 











-'if 






I 




^ — ^ towLt ' 


-M^- 


iM^Ski 


- -^HWf 


^^^tj^l^f^ ftrf 


II 


^^M 


g^ 



ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION 
THE GUEKRIEKE 



clared 
greatest 

and naval power in 
the world and had 
only twelve vessels. 
we gave but little 
thought to the prep- 
aration of a navy. 

Nevertheless, these twelve ships were the best of their kind and 
our sailors were well trained and thoroughly disciplined. Our 
little navy started out gallantly in search of the enemy. Three 

1 General Hull was later tried by court martial on charge of treason, 
cowardice, and neglect of duty. He was convicted and sentenced to be 
shot, but the sentence was remitted by the President, on account of Hull's 
previous services during the Revolutionary war. 

-The people of New York and New England were opposed to the war. 

3 General Brock was killed in this engagement. 



220 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

days after General Hull's surrender of Detroit, his nephew, 
Captain Hull, commanding the ship Constitution — "Old 
Ironsides " as she came to be called — met the British warship 
Guerriere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and there the proud 
and boastful English were defeated. Soon the Guerriere was 
a dismantled hulk rolling helplessly on the waves. Within 
an hour after the fight the Constitution was repaired and was 
ready to search for new prey. This brief battle of half an 
hour broke the " sacred spell " of Great Britain on the seas. 
The Americans went wild with joy over this victory. In 
October the British sloop of war Frolic surrendered to the 
American Wasp, but both vessels were later captured by a 
British man-of-war. Just one week after the Wasp's victory, 
Captain Decatur, of the United States, captured the British 
frigate Macedonian off the Madeira Islands and towed her 
into New London, Connecticut, where she was overhauled 
and converted into a first-class American fighting ship. The 
famous Constitution once more went forth to victory before 
the year 1812 had closed, under the command of Captain Bain- 
bridge and captured the Java off the coast of Brazil. The re- 
sults of this wonderful six months of naval warfare surprised 
the world. Great Britain was filled with consternation, while 
American patriotism and pride were aroused to the highest 
pitch. 

Hornet and Peacock; Chesapeake and Shannon. The year 
1 81 3 opened with another American victory on the seas. In 
February the Hornet, commanded by Captain Lawrence, cap- 
tured the British frigate Peacock in South American waters. 
After this victory Lawrence was transferred to the command 
of the famous Chesapeake and while this vessel lay off Boston 
she was challenged by Captain Broke, of the Shannon. Law- 
rence's crew was new and not yet well trained, but he was 
willing to risk an encounter. Unfortunately for us. Captain 
Broke had been profiting by the mistakes of the British and 
had a crew perfectly trained for action. The engagement was 
short and bloody. Lawrence was mortally wounded early in 



THE WAR OF 1812 



221 



the fight and as he was borne below deck he cried out ahnost 
with his dying breath, " Don't give up the ship," but the 
Chesapeake was compelled to surrender, and was taken as a 
prize to Halifax. The naval war had assumed such propor- 
tions that Great Britain kept a large part of her fleet in Ameri- 
can waters and our little navy, though considerably increased 




DEATH OF CAPTAIN LAWRENCE 

in numbers, found it impossiljle to prevent the blockading of im- 
portant harbors on our coast. This crippled us during" the 
remainder of the war, for the best of our ships were soon bot- 
tled up in the harbors and were unable to run the blockade. 

Raisin River Massacre. The land campaign of 18 13 
showed some gain for the United States in the extreme 
west. General William Henry Harrison of Tippecanoe fame 
had succeeded to the command of the army and had set him- 




>.. i^J'o^ma,.. , ^_ _ 

^^"■'^"feXCF^^'^ ■•■■ Tcrritorifo/ Orleans 
^"^ Y*VVk ' ' "'"S ac/ini«cJ as (/<e 
■' r'"*''^'C/^^ Utateo/Louh 



TERRITORY OF ACTIVE OPERATIONS IN THE WAR OF l8l2 



THE WAR OF 1812 



223 



self to the task of driving the British out of Detroit and wip- 
ing out the disgrace of Hull's surrender. The British from 
their strong position in the town made invasions into the Ohio 
valley and loosed their Indian allies on the country. In the 
early winter of 181 3, an advance force of Harrison's army, a 
body of brave Kentuckians and Ohioans, were attacked and 
horribly massacred at the River Raisin in southern Michigan. 
General Proctor, in command of the British, cruelly allowed 
his Indians to butcher the wounded prisoners and for years 
afterward the name of River Raisin was a phrase of hor- 
ror. Harrison was forced to drop back to Ft. Meigs. In 
the spring Proctor made an effort to drive him out, but failing 
in this he turned to attack Ft. Stephenson, near Sandusky. 
Here the one little cannon of the fort did valiant work and 
the British were repulsed. 

Perry's Victory. . Michigan was still in possession of the 
enemy. To recover Detroit, it was necessary for the Amer- 
icans to gain the mastery of Lake Erie, which was held 
by Commodore Bar- 



clay with 
English fleet 




a small 
Oliver 
Hazard Perry, a gal- 
lant young naval offi- 
cer, undertook the 
task of clearing the 
lake of the British 
vessels. His fleet 
had to be built from 
the timber standing 
in the forests back 
from the lake shore, and everything else needed had to be 
hauled from Philadelphia and New York over almost impassa- 
ble roads, but the work was accomplished, and in September 
Perry had a fleet of six vessels ready for action. He met the 
British at Put-in-Bay. Several of the enemy's vessels centered 
their fire upon Perry's flagship, the Laivrence, and in about two 



PERRY AT THE BATTLE OF LAKE KklK 



224 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

hours two-thirds of her crew were killed or wounded and the 
vessel was in a sinking condition. In an open boat, bearing 
his banner "Don't give up the ship," Perry crossed under 
the enemy's fire to his next largest vessel, the Niagara, and the 
battle was continued without abatement.^ Soon the British 
were compelled to surrender and the stars and stripes waved 
triumphantly in the breeze. On the back of an old letter, 
Perry scribbled this dispatch to his commander : " We have 
met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two frigates, 
one schooner, and one sloop." 

Battle of the Thames. General Harrison was not slow to 
take advantage of Perry's victory, but when he marched 
against Detroit he found that the enemy had tied. Setting 
out after the retreating Proctor, he passed the ruins of Ft. 
Alalden and met the British general and his Indian allies at 
the Thames River, where he won a signal victory. Tecumseh 
was killed, many prisoners were taken, and the power of the 
British was completely broken in the Northwest. Meanwhile, 
efforts were made again to invade Canada by way of the Niag- 
ara and Lake Champlain routes, this time under the direction 
of General James Wilkinson and General Wade Hampton, but 
again the undertaking miserably failed. 

British Plans. Napoleon had been forced to abdicate the 
French throne and, in 1814, retired to the island of Elba, 
while all Europe rejoiced for a breathing spell of peace.^ The 
large land and naval forces of England were thus set free and 
she planned to concentrate her strength and bring the war with 
the United States to a speedy close. Veteran troops who 
had not slept under a roof for seven years were dispatched 
to the United States and landed in Maine. Most of the 
coast was blockaded and attacks were planned on the chief 
ports. 

Chippewa and Lundy's Lane ; Victory on Lake Champlain. 
The Americans had learned something from the repeated dis- 

1 Perry's flagship, the Lawrence, had floated at her masthead a blue 
pennon, bearing the dying words of the captain of the Chesapeake. 

2 Elba is an island off the coast of Italy. 



THE WAR OF 1812 225 

asters to their armies. As fast as possible soldiers who had 
shown abiHty were promoted. Such men as General Jacob 
Brown and Winfield Scott were in command and they 
set about training the army. The result of their work was 
manifest in the summer of 18 14 when the Americans again 
undertook the invasion of Canada by way of Niagara. Brown 
and Scott crossed the river and defeated the British at Chip- 
pewa. Twenty days later the two forces met again in a more 
desperate encounter at Lundy's Lane near the great waterfall. 
The fighting began about dark and continued far into the 
night, each army directing its fire by the flash of the enemy's 
muskets. The Americans were victorious. In September a 
British force under General Prevost attempted to invade New 
York by the Lake Champlain route which Burgoync had fol- 
lowed thirty-seven years before. A British fleet under Com- 
modore Downie was expected to control the lake. Captain 
Thomas McDonough was waiting with an American fleet, and 
General McComb was stationed at Plattsburg with a small 
force to resist the advance of the British. The attacks on the 
lake and on the shore took place at almost the same time. 
McDonough won a brilliant victory and Prevost's men re- 
treated from Plattsburg into Canada. 

Attacks on Washington and Baltimore. During the same 
year the blockade of the coast was maintained with vigor and 
an attack was made on the Chesapeake Bay cities. A British 
army under General Ross advanced upon the defenseless capi- 
tal August, 1814. The city of Washington was taken without 
difficulty and the British wantonly consigned to the flames 
many of its public buildings.^ General Ross then turned 
northward to Baltimore, where he determined to spend the 
winter, " if it rained militia " ; but the fate of Washington had 
taught Baltimore a lesson and the city was prepared to resist. 
The British army was defeated in a battle at North Point and 

1 Mrs. Madison was careful to take with her the original draft of the 
Declaration of Independence and a famous picture of Washington. The 
English contended that this destruction of property was in retaliation for 
the burning of York (now Toronto) by the Americans. 



226 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Ross himself was killed by a musket ball. The British fleet 
tried to pass Ft. McHenry which guarded the approach to 
Baltimore, and bombarded the fort far into the night, but the 
American guns, too, did deadly work and at dawn the Star 
Spangled Banner still waved from the ramparts.^ The British 
abandoned the siege, but for several months plundering expedi- 
tions were sent out along the coast from Maine to Georgia. 

The Privateers. As the result of the blockade, our best 
ships were practically useless during the latter part of the war. 
From 1813 forward it devolved upon the smaller vessels and 
the privateers to uphold American prestige at sea. The Essex, 
an audacious little craft, made her way around Cape Horn far 
into the Pacific where no American frigate had before ven- 
tured.^ Here she protected American merchant vessels and 
captured British whalers which she armed and converted into 
a little fleet. At last the Essex was blockaded in Valparaiso 
by two British vessels and forced to surrender. Our privateers 
meanwhile inflicted severe losses, amounting to millions, upon 
British shipping. Furs from Siberia, tea and silk from China 
and Japan, or ivory from Africa — anything and everything 
carried in English ships — fell into the possession of these bold 
Americans, searching and capturing at will. 

Indian Troubles in the South. It was in the South that the 
last battle of the war was fought, but from the very outset of 
the struggle there were serious Indian troubles in this region. 
The Creeks had taken sides against the United States, being 
influenced by Tecumseh and by the British agents, who offered 
them five dollars apiece for the scalps of American men, 
women, and children. In August, 181 3, not far from Mobile, 
there was a terrible massacre of two hundred and fifty whites 
at Fort Minis. The Tennessee militia, under General Andrew 

^ On the night of the bombardment of Ft. McHenry, Francis Scott Key 
had rowed to the British fleet to beg that a friend be released on parole, 
and the British admiral detained him. He watched the fight all night 
long. In the morning, when he saw the flag floating triumphantly in the 
breeze, he wrote the beautiful national hymn, The Star Spangled Banner. 

~ At the beginning of the war the Essex had won a victory over the 
Alert. 



THE WAR OF 1812 



-^-z 



Jackson, set out for the Creek country to punish the savages. 
There was a bloody campaign of nearly seven months which 
ended with the great battle at Horse Shoe Bend in eastern Ala- 
bama which completely broke the power of the Indians in the 
Southwest. This campaign against the Indians made General 
Jackson one of our foremost commanders. 

Battle of New Orleans. In the autumn of 18 14 England 
sent out an expedition, under General Pakenham, to take New 




BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 



Orleans. The object of the expedition was to wrest the whole 
province of Louisiana from the United States; and so confident 
were the British that they brought along officials for the 
government of the province. Jackson began to throw up 
earthworks below the city and stood ready with 6,000 men to 
hold his position. Many of these men were raw militia who 
had left the plow to buckle on the sword. Pakenham had 



228 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



12,000 veteran troops. There were several preliminary skir- 
mishes, but at daybreak on the eighth of January, 181 5, the real 
battle began. The slaughter of the British was frightful. 
One cannon of the Americans filled with musket balls killed 
two hundred of the British at a single discharge. No army 
could resist such slaughter and soon the British fell back in 
disorder, leaving the brave Pakenham among the slain. " Old 
Hickory " as Jackson was called, became the idol of the West.^ 
Peace of Ghent. If there had been such a thing as the 

telegraph or cable 
the battle of New 
Orleans would not 
have been fought. 
Two weeks before, 
on December 24, 
1814, at Ghent, a 
city in Belgium, had 
been signed a treaty 
of peace which was 
hardly more than an 
agreement to cease 




fighting. 



Nothing 



whatever was said" 
about impressment, 
but it was hardly 
necessary, for our 
naval record during 

STATUE OF GENERAL JACKSON IN NEW ORLEANS ^'^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ Settled 

that question by dem- 
onstrating our ability to resist such outrages as our seamen 
had suffered. From this time forward, the United States oc- 
cupied a position of honor and respect among the nations of 

1 On one occasion when Jackson was marching his men back to Ten- 
nessee, he gave his three good horses to the sick and walked with his 
men. While they were tramping along, the soldiers said their general 
was as tough as hickory, and from this remark the hero of New Orleans 
was afterwards called " Old Hickory." 



THE WAR OF 1812 229 

the world. The news of the peace and the victory at New 
Orleans reached the eastern states about the same time and 
there was universal rejoicing.^ 

The Hartford Convention. The war was one of surprises. 
Our navy, from which little was expected, won victory after 
victory; our army, from which much was expecfed, had met 
defeat after defeat until the closing year of the war. One 
reason for the failure of the army was the lack of cooperation 
among the states. From the first New England was bitterly 
opposed to the w^ar. As the war advanced and the country 
was drained of money and the coasts blockaded and trade in- 
terrupted, this bitterness of feeling was intensified. At last 
in December, 181 4, upon the call of the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, a convention of New England delegates met in secret 
session at Hartford, Connecticut. The purpose of the conven- 
tion was to protest against the war. Several amendments to 
the Constitution were proposed safeguarding the interests of 
New England, and the understanding was that if these were 
not adopted, the New England states would secede from the 
Union. • Commissioners were sent to Washington to lay the 
re[)ort of the convention before Congress, but reaching the city 
in a time of general rejoicing over peace and the victory at 
New Orleans, they immediately returned. 

Manufactures and the Tariff. When the war closed in 18 15, 
two years of Madison's term remained and during that time 
the country experienced a sharp revival of internal develop- 
ment and a new feeling of independence. Commerce flour- 
ished, farmers found markets for their crops, and wealth 
rapidly increased. The only exception to the general pros- 
perity was among the manufactures that had come into ex- 
istence during the embargo and war periods, when we were 
cut off from foreign trade. With the return of peace, English 
goods were supplied in abundance and sold at prices with which 

1 During the war of 1812, the Barbary pirates again began to make 
raids on American ships. In 1815 Commodore Decatur entered the Medi- 
terranean with a fleet of ten vessels, and soon forced the pirates to make 
peace. 



230 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

our home manufacturers claimed they could not compete.^ 
Petition after petition was sent to Congress asking that duties 
be put on certain goods so as to protect the home manufac- 
turers. The result was the tariff of 181 6 which was our first 
protective tariff. The country generally tolerated the policy 
upon the idea that the need of protection would cease in a few 
years. But opposition soon deleveloped on the ground that 
people should not be taxed to sustain favored industries. 

Second National Bank. The public debt was enormous as 
a result of the war of 181 2, but the government was no longer 
in distress as revenue was now abundant. The charter of the 
national bank, which had been established in 1791, expired in 
181 1, and for a period of five years the government had to re- 
sort to state banks as places of deposit. In 181 6 Congress 
chartered a second bank after much the same plan as the first, 
except that the new institution paid the government one and 
one-half million dollars for its charter. 

Internal Improvements. The hard times in the East during 
the embargo and the war had driven many people westward 
where land was plentiful and cheap. The roads to the West 
streamed with white-hooded wagons, carrying new settlers and 
all their worldly goods to this land of opportunity.^ With 
the growth of the West arose the problem of roads and canals 
as highways of communication beyond the mountains.^ The 
Cumberland road leading into the Ohio valley had already 
been partly completed by the federal government from the 
proceeds of the sales of Ohio lands. ^ Now there was an 
active demand for internal improvements on a large scale and 

1 The Middle States and New England soon developed into the manu- 
facturing regions of the country. The chief manufacturing industries 
were cotton and woolen cloths and iron. 

- Wild land sold for $2.00 an acre, although the settlers or squatters 
often took it for nothing. 

3 During the war, poor roads greatly interfered with the movement of 
armies and the transportation of supplies. 

* The Cumberland road ran from Cumberland, Maryland, through Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, to Wheeling on the Ohio, and thence 
westward to Columbus. Later it was extended through Indiana and 
Illinois. 



THE WAR OF 1812 231 

many such bills passed Congress; but Madison vetoed them 
because he thought that the federal government was without 
power to make such expenditures, and that this burden rested 
upon the separate states. The states themselves were doing 
much in this respect and within the next few years they com- 
pleted many short roads and canals. The state of New York, 
despairing of federal aid, in 181 7 set about building for her- 
self the Erie Canal connecting the Hudson River and Lake 
Erie in order to attract the vast traffic of the Northwest. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What famous papers were partly the work of Madison's pen? 2. Why- 
was the war unpopular in New England? 3. Was Daniel Webster one of 
the young " War hawks " mentioned as entering Congress for the first 
time in 1812? Find out when he entered Congress and how he stood as 
to the war. 4. Were the British justified in burning the buildings at 
Washington? 5. In 1815 how long did it take news to travel from Eu- 
rope to America? 6. What was the greatest benefit the United States de- 
rived from the War of 1812? 7. What had been the leading occupation of 
New England up to this time? 8. Who was the author of the tariff of 
1816? How did this tariff differ from the first tariff law? 



CHAPTER XVI 

TRANSITION FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND GENERATION OF 

STATESMEN 

James Monroe, President, i8 17-1825 

Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-president, 1817-1825 

John Quincy Adams, President, 1825-1829 
John C. Calhoun, Vice-president, 1825-1833 



The New Administration. 




>^ 



1 

JAMES MONROE 



The Federalist party had be- 
come SO weak that in the 
presidential election of 
1 8 16, its candidate, Rufus 
King, the last Federalist 
named for President, re- 
ceived very few votes and 
James Monroe, a Democrat 
and the Secretary of State 
under Madison, was elect- 
ed,^ Monroe was the 
fourth Virginian to be 
President and the last of 
the revolutionary fathers 
to hold that office. In the 
summer of 181 7 he made a 
tour of the northern and 
New England states, which 
had been the seat of so 



1 James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758. 
A student at William and Mary College when the Revolutionary War 
began, he left school to enter the army. He was a captain at the battle 
of Trenton, and served with distinction in the principal engagements of 

232 



TRANSITION OF STATESMEN 



233 



much disaffection during the war of 1812. When the Presi- 
dent appeared in his revohttionary uniform, great crowds 
gathered to pay honor to the veteran who had fought with 
Washington. Monroe called a number of men of the younger 
generation to serve in the cabinet. John Quincy Adams, the 
son of the second President, was Secretary of State; John C. 
Calhoun was Secretary of War; 
and William H. Crawford of 
Georgia was Secretary of the 
Treasury. Henry Clay still held 
the leadership in Congress. How- 
ever, the man who was destined to 
wield the greatest influence was not 
in the cabinet or in Congress; this 
man was Andrew Jackson of Ten- 
nessee, the " Hero of New Or- 
leans." 

Foreign Affairs; Purchase of 
Florida. The points left unsettled 
in I'le peace which closed the sec- 
ond war with Great Britain were 
adjusted in the treaty of 1818. The 
boundary between the Louisiana purchase and Canada was 
fixed ; commercial agreements were arranged ; the right to fish 
on the Grand Banks was secured; and Oregon, which both 
powers claimed, was to be occupied jointly by the citizens of 
the United States and of Great Britain.^ In the year 181 9 
Florida was added to the territory of the United States. This 
region was a place of refuge for hostile Indians, run-away 

1777-1778. Monroe studied law under Jefferson, and there was always a 
strong affection between the two men. He was in public life from the 
formation of the government almost to the time of his death. The chief 
offices he filled were: governor of Virginia; minister to France in 1802, 
when he aided in the purchase of Louisiana ; minister to England ; Secre- 
tary of State under Madison; and President from 1817 to 1825. Monroe 
died July 4, 1831. 

1 Great Britain claimed the Oregon country by virtue of the discoveries 
of Alexander Mackenzie, and the occupation of the country by the Hudson 




JOHN C. CALHOUN 



234 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

slaves, and outlaws, and was a constant source of trouble to 
the people of Alabama and Georgia. The Seminole Indians, 
whose haunts were in the Florida peninsula, kept up a merci- 
less frontier warfare and vSpain did nothing to keep the peace. 
General Andrew Jackson was still in command in the South- 
west and was sent, in 1818, to check the marauders. Once in 
the field against the red men, Jackson did not stop until he had 
chased them far into Florida. He attacked the Spanish whom he 
suspected of aiding and abetting the Indians and arrested and 
executed two English subjects for the same offence.^ In the 
meantime we had been negotiating with Spain for the purchase 
of Florida, and this warlike advance into her territory was 
not conducive to a peaceful transaction. But Spain's colonies 
of Mexico and South America were in a state of revolt, and 
realizing that she could not hold Florida, she sold it to us 
for $5,000,000. This was in 181 9, and at the same time the 
boundary of the Louisiana purchase, which had been in con- 
stant dispute, was defined. The United States agreed to accept 
the Sabine, the Red, and the Arkansas rivers in a northwest- 
erly direction ; from the last named river to the forty-second 
parallel and thence along that line to the Pacific. By accept- 
ing this boundary we surrendered claim to Texas as a part of 
the Louisiana purchase.^ 

New States; Question of Missouri. The rapid western 
movement of the population in the period of the embargo and 
the war, led to the admission of state after state carved out 
of the western territory.^ While Madison was President, 
Louisiana (1812) and Indiana (1816) were admitted to the 

Bay Company. The treaty provided for joint occupation for ten years. 
Later the time was extended. 

1 These were Ambrister, a young Englishman, and Arbuthnot, an old 
Scotch trader, who had long been suspected of stirring up the Indians. 
Both men were tried by a court martial and sentenced to death. 

2 We had previously claimed that Louisiana extended to the Rio Grande 
on the southwest. 

3 Two families that left Kentucky during these years are of particular 
interest to us. In 1808 Jefferson Davis was born in Kentucky. Just 
before the war of 1812, his father moved westward into Mississippi, and 



TRANSITION OF STATESMEN 235 

Union, and five other states entered during the Presidency of 
Monroe. The first three — Mississippi (181 7), Ilhnois 
(1818), and Alabama (1819) — were admitted without oppo- 
sition, but when Missouri knocked at the door of the Union, 
there was an ominous outbreak of sectional feeling. Missouri 
was settled in large part by the masterful men of Kentucky 
and Tennessee, who moved across the river and carried their 
slaves with them, and soon there were plantations and great 
fields of waving grain where had been the hunting grounds 
of the Indians. Missouri, with a state constitution guaran- 
teeing the right to hold slaves, now asked to enter the Union. 
Northern statesmen fiercely resisted the admission of Missouri 
as a slave state and the southern statesmen as fiercely fought 
the exclusion of slavery from that state. 

Balance of Power Between the Sections. To understand 
the controversy over Missouri we must bear in mind the atti- 
tude of the sections toward each other. The struggle was 
not simply a matter of right and wrong or of different in- 
dustrial and social systems; it was also a cjuestion of political 
power between the North and the South. From the first the 
sections had been distinct. In colonial days the Puritan had 
dominated the one, while the Cavalier had directed the other. 
We have noted the jealousies between the sections in the for- 
mation of the federal union. The South had opposed, while 
the North had approved, Hamilton's financial plans. During 
the long period of troublesome controversies with the warring 
powers of Europe — though both sections usually supported 
the President in matters of national honor — the agricultural 
and Democratic South rather sympathized with France, while 
the commercial and Federalist North manifestly preferred 
England, and in the war of 181 2 New England had been openly 
hostile to the policy of the government. Though most of the 
Louisiana purchase lay in the North, New England opposed 

became a typical southern planter. In i8og Abraham Lincoln was born 
in Kentucky. In 1816 his father, a carpenter, took his family across the 
Ohio into Illinois, and here Lincoln grew into manhood. 



236 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the acquisition because she saw that the territory would be 
agricukural and she feared that in sympathy with the South it 
would antagonize her commercial interests. During the first 
quarter century of the Union, the North had outgrown the 
South in population, and, as a consequence, the northern states 
seemed destined to have a majority in the House of Repre- 
sentatives and thus control legislation in that body.^ In the 
Senate the states were represented equally without regard to 
population and the South realized that she must retain her 
strength there in order to prevent legislation hostile to her 
interests. Leaders of the North feared the perpetuation of 
southern ascendency if the West grew in power and sympa- 
thized with the South, while the leaders of the South sought 
to extend their industrial system to the West in order to main- 
tain a balance in the Senate. 

Growth of Slavery. To understand further why the admis- 
sion of Missouri to the Union as a slave state caused such 
sharp sectional antagonism, we must recall something of the 
growth of slavery in the United States. In the admission of 
states up to 1820, the slavery issue had not arisen, because by 
the Ordinance of 1787 slavery was prohibited in all states 
carved out of the Northwest Territory. No such restriction 
was placed upon the states organized south of the Ohio River. 
Circumstances were such that in the admission of states up to 
this time, the balance of power was preserved, for free states 
and slave states had been admitted alternately. At the for- 
mation of the Union slavery had existed in practically all the 
states. The Constitution recognized slavery as a domestic in- 
stitution and it was provided in that instrument that the slave 
trade was not to be forbidden until 1808, in which year a law 
was passed to that effect. The Constitution provided likewise 
for the passage of a fugitive slave law by which runaway 
slaves should be returned to their masters, and in 1793 Con- 

1 In the House of Representatives, the people are represented according 
to population. The people of the South colonized the West to a large 
extent, and this movement checked the growth of population in the sea- 
board states of that section. 



TRANSITION OF STATESMEN 237 

gress enacted such a law. However, there had been consid- 
erable agitation against slavery on moral grounds, and many 
leaders. North and South, looked forward to the gradual 
disappearance of the institution. It had gradually disap- 
peared in the North where the climate was unfavorable and 
where slave labor was not profitable on the small farms or 
in the factories of the cities. By 1820 slavery had ceased 
to exist or was in process of extinction in the states north 
of Mason and Dixon's line and of the Ohio River. But after 
the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, slavery be- 
came more profitable than ever in the cotton fields of the 
lower South; it solved the labor problem, which in a new 
land is always vexatious. As the cotton crop increased from 
hundreds to hundreds of thousands of bales, and the cotton 
mills of Old England, and New England as well, looked 
to the fleecy fields of the South for their supply, it was not 
strange that slavery became more firmly established in the 
South. ^ Hence it was that men of that time in Missouri 
found slavery an institution ready made to their hands. 
Plans of gradual emancipation were considered, and, in 1816, 
a colonization society was established for the purpose of tak- 
ing free negroes back to the republic of Liberia in Africa, 
where they were encouraged to maintain and govern them- 
selves. Complete and immediate abolition of slavery would 
have meant danger and ruin to the South on the one hand, 
and on the other suffering and privation to the negroes. 
Meanwhile southern leaders believed that the best way to 

1 Nevertheless, a great many prominent men in the South regretted the 
existence of slavery, and would have been glad to see some way to end 
it without ruining themselves financially. Some were willing to free their 
slaves, and did so ; but there was a great deal of opposition to this, be- 
cause it was generally felt that free negroes were an undesirable element 
in the population. It was for this reason that the colonization society 
was organized. It was thought that men would be more willing to free 
their slaves if there were some means of settling them out of the country. 
As negroes showed themselves capable of self-support, masters very often 
set them free, and there were many free negroes scattered throughout 
the country. For many years Madison was president of the American 
Colonization Society, which, between 1830 and 1850, sent seven thousand 
negroes to Liberia, about twenty-five hundred from Virginia alone. 



^38 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



deal with slavery so as to prevent the slaves from becoming 
too numerons in the older states of the South, was to encour- 
age a movement of the negroes into the West. In this 
manner they would be scattered over a wider territory, and 
the evils of the system would be mitigated. The North, 
fearing southern control in the West, contested the right 
of holding slaves in the territory west of the Mississippi. 
The South, on the contrary, contended that the broad fertile 
valleys of the western water courses should be as free to her 
emigrants as to those from the North. The struggle between 




FREE AND SLAVE TERRITORY AS FIXED BY MISSOURI COMPROMISE 



the two sections over Missouri intensified sectional bit- 
terness, and threats of disunion were freely made from both 
sides. 

Missouri Compromise. At length, largely through the in- 
fluence of Henry Clay, who became known as the " Great 
Pacificator," the dispute over slavery in Missouri was com- 
promised. In 1820, Maine, which had been a part of Massa- 
chusetts, applied for admission as a free state, and the two 
states of Maine and Missouri were now admitted in one bill, 



TRANSITION OF STATESMEN 239 

the former to be a free state, and the latter a slave state. 
But while Missouri was admitted with slavery, it was agreed 
that all states afterwards carved out of the Louisiana pur- 
chase north of the line thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes 
— the southern boundary of Missouri — should be free states. 
The Missouri Compromise settled the territorial feature of 
the slavery problem for nearly thirty years, but the bitterness 
engendered between the sections during the controversy sur- 
\ived and increased until it culminated in War Between the 
States.! 

Monroe Doctrine. Hardly had the Missouri Compromise 
been accomplished before the American people faced another 
vital question. This was the independence of the republics 
of the New World. Spain's colonies in Mexico and South 
America had revolted and had set up republican governments 
which Spain was too weak to subdue. Russia, Prussia, Aus- 
tria, and France banded themselves together into a league, 
known as the " Holy Alliance," for the purpose of upholding 
the rights of the monarchies of the Old World, and it was be- 
lieved that this alliance was willing to assist Spain in recover- 
ing her American colonies. The likelihood was, however, that 
these colonies, if subjugated, would not be restored to Spain, 
but would be divided among the nations of the Holy Alliance. 
Russia already claimed Alaska by right of discovery, and, if 
she should gain more territory on the North American con- 
tinent, she would be a distinct menace to our safety.^ 
The United States boldly opposed the policy of the Holy 
Alliance, and, in 1822, acknowledged the independence of the 
new American republics to the south. In 1823 Monroe an- 
nounced that the United States had no intention of interfering 

^ Thomas Jefferson was opposed to slavery, but he was in favor of 
its extension in the West. After the Missouri Compromise was agreed 
upon, he said, " The question sleeps for the present but it is not dead. 
This momentous question, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened me and 
iillcd me with terror." 

- Russia claimed Alaska tlirough the discovery of Vitus Bering in 1741. 
In 1824 Russia agreed to a treaty by which the southern boundary was 
to be fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, and by which the fisheries of 
the Pacific were open to the United States. 



240 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

with any European colony already established in America, 
but that any attempt on the part of the nations of Europe to 
establish other colonies on this continent, would be regarded 
by the United States as a manifestation of an unfriendly dis- 
position toward us. The President's declaration had the de- 
sired effect, for the plans of the Holy Alliance, whatever they 
were, were abandoned. The policy declared in this instance 
is known as the Monroe Doctrine, and has since been recog- 
nized throughout the world as a fixed principle in American 
diplomacy. 

Lafayette's Visit. In the year 1824 Lafayette, upon the 
invitation of the United States, visited the country for the 
first time since the close of the Revolutionary War. Every- 
where he went, he was hailed with the greatest acclaim. The 
whole people gave themselves up to a holiday, and processions 
and fetes of all kinds were arranged for his pleasure. At 
length, after a stay of over a year, he returned to France 
upon the new United States frigate Brandyzvine, which had 
been named in his honor. ^ As a token of the affection and 
esteem of a grateful people Congress presented him with $200,- 
000 in money and a township of public land in Florida. 

Beginning of New Parties. Monroe had been reelected in 
1820. The Federalists did not even name an opposing can- 
didate, and the election lacked only one vote of being unani- 
mous. Washington alone, of our Presidents, enjoys the 
distinction of having been unanimously elected. The compara- 
tive absence of strife between the parties of this time, caused 
Monroe's administration to be called the " Era of Good Feel- 
ing," but the good feeling was only surface deep, and before 
the close of Monroe's second term, contrary groups were 
forming within the Democratic party. One wing of the party, 
which became known as the National Republicans, later as 
the Whigs, believed in a high protective tariff, internal im- 
provements at federal expense, and a United States bank. 

^ The battle of the Brandywine was Lafayette's first engagement in the 
Revolutionary War. 



TRANSITION OF STATESMEN 241 

The other wing of the party, the Democrats proper or the 
Democratic RepiibHcans, as they were officially called, re- 
mained true to the ideas of Jefferson. They believed in a 
tariff for revenue, contended that internal improvements should 
be made at state expense, and resisted the United States bank 
as an unconstitutional enterprise. These measures constituted 
the chief points of political controversy for the next twenty 
years. 

Election of Adams. The presidential election of 1824 was 
a trial of strength between the factions within the Democratic 
party. There were many candidates in the field : John Ouincy 
Adams, Monroe's Secretary of State, and Henry Clay, rep- 
resenting the National Republicans; William H. Crawford 
and Andrew Jackson representing the Democrats. Calhoun 
was the only candidate for Vice-president. Jackson received 
the greatest number of electoral votes, but he did not have a 
majority. The Constitution provides that in such a situation, 
the election shall be determined in the House of Representa- 
tives. In the contest in the House, Clay's friends supported 
Adams, who, to the bitter disappointment of Jackson and his 
friends, was chosen President. 

Opposition to Adams. The new President, John Quincy 
Adams, belonged to the second generation of great statesmen.^ 
He had been in public life from his youth up, and no man 
could have received better training for the duties of his high 
office ; but, like his father, John Adams, our second President, 
he was cold and unbending and made few friends. Adams 
was very much interested in our Spanish-American neighbors. 

1 John Quincy Adams was born in Massachusetts in 1767. He was the 
first son of John Adams. His public career began, when at the age of 
fourteen, he served as Secretary to the American minister to Russia. 
He was his father's secretary in 1783, when the Peace of Paris was 
negotiated. In 1788 he was graduated at Harvard College, and shortly 
afterward began the practice of law. At different times he was minister 
to Holland, Prussia, Russia, and England. In 1807 he supported Jeffer- 
son's Embargo, and thus broke with the Federalist parly. He was one of 
the Peace Commissioners at Ghent, and Monroe made him Secretary of 
State. After the expiration of his presidential term, he was elected, in 
1830, to the House of Representatives, and served in that body for seven- 
teen years. He died in the Capitol, at Washington, in 1848. 



242 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

A Pan-American Congress was held in Panama in 1826, to 
consult on the common interests of American republics, and 
the President urged that we send delegates, but Congress did 
not approve the idea, and delayed matters so long that 
when the commissioners were finally sent they arrived too 
late to participate. At every turn Adams was opposed by 
Congress, and little was accomplished during his four years in 
office. The great mass of people had not desired him for 
President, and they seemed to be impatient for his administra- 
tion to come to a close so that '' Old Hickory " might come 
" into his own." 

Erie Canal. Supported by Plenry Clay, whom he had made 
Secretary of State, President Adams was in favor of a system 
of internal improvements at federal expense, but Congress 
would go no further than to vote small amounts for certain 
highways. However, in the first year of his administration, 
an internal improvement of great importance was completed. 
This \\'3.s the Erie Canal connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson 
River, begun eight years before by the state of New York and 
completed in 1825. At the beginning of this enterprise its 
opponents in derision called it Clinton's " Big Ditch," but when 
the traffic of the West began to pour in a steady volume into 
New York City and the greater facility of transportation 
caused freight rates to be lowered, the " Big Ditch " became 
popular. From the time of the opening of the canal, the city 
of New York rapidly developed into one of the great commer- 
cial centers of the world. ^ 

Tariff-Strife. During the closing years of Adams's admin- 
istration jiolitical excitement reached a high pitch. The ab- 
sorbing question was the tariff. A panic had swept over 
the land in 18 19 and northern manufacturers ascribed 
it to the low duties of the tariff of 181 6, which they con- 
tended was not sufficient to protect them from foreign com- 
petition and they clamored for higher duties. The South was 

1 In 1826 the whole country was shocked by the death of Thomas Jeffer- 
son and John Adams, both of whom passed away on the fourth of July, 
the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 



TRANSITION OF STATESMEN 243 

opposed to the protective tariff because she felt that it operated 
as a hardship on her agricultural industries for the benefit of 
the commercial North. In 1824 the northern faction succeeded 
in passing a new tariff with higher duties, but some of the 
manufacturers were not satisfied and continued to plead for 
more protection until the tariff of 1828 was framed. The op- 
ponents of the bill, hoping to kill it, offered all kinds of amend- 
ments, but the bill, amendments and all, passed, and on account 
of its high rate of duties it became known as the "tariff of 
abominations." Many protests against the act were sent to 
Congress. Four southern legislatures, among them th^t of 
South Carolina, passed resolutions of opposition and the dis- 
sent was cjuieted only by the approach of another presidential 
election. Adams and Jackson were the only candidates for 
the Presidency. Jackson was elected President and John C. 
Calhoun was reelected Vice-president. Jackson's rugged 
honesty and his great fame as a soldier inspired the country 
with the hope of a vigorous and successful administration. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What was the effect of the War of 1812 on the Federalist party? 
2. Was Jackson justified in invading Florida? 3. Who owned Texas in 
1819? 4. What had kept the slavery question out of Congress until 1819? 
5. Name the states of the Union at this time. 6. Did both sides accept 
the Missouri Compromise at the time as a permanent settlement of the 
slavery question so far as Congress was concerned ? 7. What states had 
slavery in 1820? 8. What was the amount of cotton exported in 1820? 
Compare with 1793. 9. What was the electoral vote of each candidate in 
1824? ID. What has helped to make New York the Metropolis of Amer- 
ica? II. What two great men died July 4, 1826? 

SOURCE MATERIAL 

General References: Wilson, History of llic American People, III; 
Bassett, The Federalist System; Channing, The Jeffersonian System; 
Babcock, The Rise of American Nationality; Turner, The New West; 
McMaster, History of the United States; Burgess, The Middle Period; 
Thwaites, Rocky Mountain Explorations; Johnston, American Politics; 



244 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Hosmer, A History of the Mississippi Valley; Stanwood, The Presidency; 
Hart, Formation of the Union; Mahan, War of 1812; Brooks, First Across 
the Continent; Biographies — Jefferson, Hamilton, Randolph, Madison, 
Gallatin, Monroe, etc.; Sparks, Expansion; Adams, United States; Schou- 
ler. United States; E. Ingle, Southern Sidelights. 



Sources and Other Readings : Everett, Washington's Home; Fisk.e, 
The Inauguration of Washington; Martineau, Peasant and Prince; Dick- 
ens, Tale of Two Cities ; Henty, In the Reign of Terror; Holmes, Ode for 
Washington's Birthday and God Save the Flag ; Jefferson, The Character 
of Washington; Abigail Adams, Letters; Cooke, Leather Stocking and 
Silk;' Kennedy, Swallow Barn; Cooper, Pioneers; James Lane Allen, 
Choir Invisible; Cable, The Grandissinies and Strange True Stories of 
Louisiana; Brady, Stephen Decatur; R. H. Dana, Two Years Before the 
Mast; Lee, Address in Congress on the Death of Washington; George 
Washington, Advice to His Nephew; Thomas Jefferson, Letters to His 
Daughter, to His Sister, and to Jefferson Smith; Bryant, Hunter of the 
Prairies; R. M. Johnston, Old Times in Middle Georgia; Kirk Munroe, 
Midshipman Stuart; Guerber, Story of the Great Republic; Hart, Source 
Readers, HI ; Joel Chandler Harris, Georgia Stories; Mrs. Madison, La^ 
fayette; Johnston, Lezvis Rand. 



Pictures : Darley, Battle of New Orleans and Emigrants Crossing 
the Plains; Tuckerman, U. S. Frigate Constitution. Pictures in Wilson, 
American People HI; Valentine, Jefferson (statue). 



PERIOD v.— SECOND GENERATION OF 
STATESMEN 

1829-1850 

CHAPTER XVII 

GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 183O-185O 

The United States over which Jackson was caUed to preside 
was vastly different from the group of stragghng states that 
had hailed Washington as President in 1789. Many new 
forces had combined to make a period of marvelous growth. 
Not the least of these factors was the development of the vigor- 
ous West, which was contesting with the North and the South 
for the leadership. The population had increased from about 
four millions in 1790 to nearly thirteen millions in 1830, and 
the boundaries of the country now stretched to the Gulf of 
Mexico on the south and to the Rocky Mountains on the west. 
German and Irish immigrants were arriving in considerable 
numbers, but the great majority of the people were of English 
descent. 

Population of Cities. The Americans were still a rural 
people, but the population of the cities was growing faster 
than ever before. New York ranked first among the states 
in population, Pennsylvania second, Virginia third ; while 
Massachusetts, second in population during the earlier period, 
had dropped down in the comparative scale. New York, 
Baltimore, and Philadelphia ranked in the order named as our 
largest cities. Boston held fourth place. Charleston was still 
an important commercial point on the southern seaboard ; and 
New Orleans, the market of the Mississippi valley, was the 
chief city of the lower South. The towns of the West and 
the Southwest were giving promise of growth, though many 

245 



246 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

of them were still scarcely more than villages. Augusta, in 
Georgia, was an important point ; Chicago and Milwaukee were 
merging from fur-trading stations in the Indian country into 
typical western towns. Pittsburg, no longer the " Gateway 
of the West," was growing into a great manufacturing center, 
and, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo and 
Detroit rose to prominence. 

Roads and Canals. Although there had developed a new 
feeling of unity as a consequence of the second war with Great 
Britain, the country even yet consisted of three well-marked 
and rather isolated sections : the commercial and manufacturing 
North; the cotton and tobacco exporting South, and the corn 
growing and cattle raising West. In a country so large as 
ours, easy means of communication and transportation are 
essential to unity. Before 1830, some improvements had 
been made, although travel was almost as uncomfortable and 
inconvenient as in colonial days. There was one important 
exception — the steamboat. River steamers had become a 
great factor in transportation and before many years there 
were regular steamer lines connecting our ports with those of 
Europe.^ But the lumbering stage coaches and Conestoga 
wagons and the mail riders still made their journeys over the 
rough and muddy highways ; in the far West there were trails 
and " girdled roads " such as there were in the East in colonial 
times. However, there were some good roads within the 
states and others leading across the mountains into the West. 
The eastern cities were anxious to gain some of the trade that 
was enriching New Orleans and about this time began to arouse 
public sentiment to the importance of good highways of travel. 

The chief interstate highway was the Cumberland road, 
which extended from Cumberland, in Maryland, across the 
Mountains in a southwesterly direction to Wheeling and on 

1 Ocean navigation by steam was successfully accomplished in 1819, 
but the establishment of regular lines of steamers came at a much later 
date. John Ericsson's invention of the screw propeller to take the place 
of the old side wheel was a great advantage because the screw was 
below the water. This invention caused steam vessels to replace sailing 
vessels in the navies of the world. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 247 

into Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. Henry Clay was an ardent 
advocate of internal improvements, but many of our early 
statesmen doubted the constitutionality of federal appropria- 
tion for enterprises that did not sei*ve all the states. Some 
of the roads were macadamized or otherwise improved and 
the cost of road building ranged from five hundred dollars 
to several thousand dollars a mile. Tolls were charged on 
nearly all the roads in order to pay for their maintenance. 
It required $5.50 to pay tolls from Philadelphia to New York 
besides the other expenses of the journey. Transportation by 
water was cheaper and easier and much quicker than by land, 
particularly after the steamboat had taken the place of the 
old flat boats and rafts. This fact early directed the atten- 
tion of the people to the building of canals as highways of 
trade and between 1830 and 1840 many canals were constructed 
in all parts of the country, some of which are in use at the 
present time. The principal of these was the Erie Canal, 
three hundred and sixty-three miles long, extending across 
New York state and connecting the Hudson River and Lake 
Erie. 

Railroads. The canals gave very much better service than 
the older methods of transportation, but they were soon super- 
seded by the railroads. The cost of laying a railway track 
was much less than that of digging a canal and as it defied rain 
and ice it could be used throughout the year. The first 
railroads consisted of wooden or iron rails over which cars 
were drawn by horses at a speed of five or six miles an hour. 
There were several railroads of this kind in operation in Amer- 
ica by 1830.^ George Stephenson, an Englishman, in 1829 
perfected a locomotive called " The Rocket," which moved 
at a much more rapid rate than cars drawn by horses. In 
1830 a locomotive designed and built by Peter Cooper, an 
American engineer, made a successful trip on the Baltimore 
and Ohio. Steam railways became one of the mightiest 

' The Baltimore and Ohio road, which was established in 1827, at first 
used cars drawn by horses. 



248 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



forces in the civilization of the world. Railroads were built 
from all the leading cities to the neighboring towns. A line 
from Charleston, South Carolina, northwest to Augusta, one 
hundred and thirty-seven miles in length, was, in 1834, the 
longest railroad under one management in the world. At 
first the cars were merely stage coaches drawn by steam, but 
with each succeeding year the comfort and speed of travel 
improved. The most of our engines were at first imported 
from England, but it was not long until American inventors 



«■ " i 3i i SI ; ^ S«Mi^^feji>'" • 




SOUTH CAROLINA S FIRST RAILKOAD 



were making better engines than English models.^ The con- 
tinuity of the railroads was broken by the rivers, for this was 
before the day of our great iron bridges, and ferry boats had 
to be used. The early railroads were built principally by 
private capital, although in some cases there was aid from 
the state governments. In 1830 there Avere only twenty-thre.e 
miles of railroad in operation in the United States, but by 
1850 there were about 3,000 miles and ten years later there 
were more than 30,000 miles. Short lines were finally con- 
solidated into trunk lines and gradually the means of trans- 
portation and travel increased to such an extent that it was 
easier to cross the entire country than it was in Washington's 
time to cross a single state. 

The Telegraph. During this period of wonderful growth, 

1 Americans made the first locomotives that could successfully travel 
on curves. In a few years anthracite coal was used instead of wood on 
steamboats and railroads, and this was a great aid, because much fuel 
could be kept in small space. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 249 



from 1830 to 1850, another device for shortening time and 
space was invented. This was the electric telegraph which 
was given to the world by the genius of Samuel F. B. Morse. ^ 
As early as 1832, Morse had installed a crude telegraphic ap- 
paratus and made a public exhibi- 
tion of his invention at New York. 
Not having any means to con- 
struct a regular telegraph line, he 
appealed to Congress for aid and 
after patiently waiting he finally 
obtained, in 1843, an appropria- 
tion of $30,000 to build an ex- 
perimental line from Washington 
to Baltimore which was the first 
telegraph line in the world. 
Upon its completion the first for- 
mal message transmitted on May 
24, 1844, was " What hath God 
wrought." ^ Before many years 
the telegraph as well as the 
railroad connected all important 
cities. 

Other Inventions. In the development of the United States 
the labor problem has been as serious as the problem of easy 
communication, and the inventive ingenuity of the American 
has fashioned many labor-saving devices which have com- 
pletely revolutionized the industrial world. As early as revolu- 
tionary days spinning and weaving machinery was introduced, 
and in New England, after the war of 1812, cotton and woolen 
mills began to do the work of the home and the small shop.^ 

1 Samuel F. B. Morse was born in New England in 1791. He was a 
painter and sculptor, but became interested in chemistry and electrical 
experiments. His telegraph put him in the forefront of the world's great- 
est inventors. He died in New York, in 1872. 

- This message was sent from the Supreme Court Rooms in the Capitol 
at Washington. 

3 Machinery for use in spinning was first made in England, and that 
nation refused to allow the inventions to be sold to other countries. But 




S. F. B. MORSE 



250 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




EARLY METHOD OF REAPING 



A great advance was made in the manufacture of iron goods, 
particularly after the discovery that coal could be used in 
foundries.^ There were many improved implements for use 
in agriculture and this branch of in- 
dustry grew apace. Before 1825 the 
farmer cut his wheat with the sickle 
, MBB,. ,x .y ^^^■^■Ms., ^ or scythe, and threshed it with the 
■feK-^mtoJL^^^^^^^ Hail or trampled it on the floor. 

Cyrus H. McCormick, in 1834, in- 
vented a reaping machine, and soon 
binders, mowers, and threshing ma- 
chines came into use; plows were im- 
proved and farming was made easy 
and more profitable.^ A rotary cyl- 
inder printing-press was invented by 
Richard M. Hoe in 1846, and this 
improvement greatly promoted the 
publishing of newspapers and books. In 1846 Elias Howe 
invented the sewing machine which not only lightened the 
work of women in 
the home but also 
reduced the cost of 
manufactur- 
ing clothing and 
shoes. Charles Good- 
year about the same 
time discovered a 
process by which In- 
dia rubber could be 
converted into the 
commercial uses 
with which we are 
now familiar. A revolving pistol was patented by Colt in 1835, 

men who had worked in English shops soon learned to set up machines 
of their own, and often with improvements. 

1 About this time large coal and oil fields were found in Pennsylvania. 

2 Congress had provided, in 1790, for the granting of patents, and a gov- 
ernment department or bureau was established in 1836. 




MODERN METHOD OF REAPING, THRESHING AND 
SACKING GRAIN 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 251 

and other improvements in firearms followed. The old can- 
dlelight of other days was supplanted by the coal oil lamp and 
by illuminating gas; about 1836 the friction match abolished 
the old clumsy tinder box and tlint. In 1842 Doctor Craw- 
ford W. Long, a Georgia physician, introduced ether which 
])roduces unconsciousness in surgical operations/ Daguerre 




PLANTATION POSSIBILITIES OF THE PAST AND OF THE PRESENT 

(da-gair), a Frenchman, discovered a method of taking pic- 
tures, and this process was also patented in the United States. 
These are some of the many wonderful inventions which con- 
tributed to the development of the American people. 

Education. The Americans of this period made progress 
in public education, also. There were public schools in many 
of the older states and in the new states of the West a part 
of the public domain had been set aside for education. In all 
parts of the country there were private schools and academies 
for girls and boys. The half dozen colleges in existence in 
colonial days had grown to more than sixty, about half of 
which were in the South. Many state universities had been 
established and there were a number of professional schools; 
in some states there were normal schools for the training of 
teachers, and there were schools of law, medicine, and theol- 
ogy. One of the institutions of higher learning established 
about this time was Wesleyan College at Macon, Georgia, 
which had its beginning in 1836, the first college in the world 

1 Dr. Long experimented first upon himself, and then administered the 
drug to patients. In 1846, Dr. Morton, a Boston physician, made public 
demonstration of the effect of ether. 



252 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

to confer degrees upon women. The United States Mili- 
tary Academy had been estabhshed in 1802; the Naval 
Academy was established in 1846. In 1846 the Smithsonian 
Institution was founded by act of Congress in accordance 
with the will of James Smithson, an Englishman, who be- 
queathed an estate valued at more than $500,000 to the 
United States, to be devoted to the increase and dififusion of 
knowledge. 

Newspapers and Magazines. As a result of the improved 
printing-press many newspapers and magazines were published: 
They could be printed more rapidly and at a small expense so 
that before many years newspapers were within the reach of 
the humblest citizens. The federal government, recognizing 
the educational value of newspapers and other periodicals, re- 
duced the postage on them in order that they might be easily 
accessible to the people residing in remote districts.^ 

Early American Literature. Until 1830 America had pro- 
duced few good writers of lighter literature. Our revolu- 
tionary fathers were too busy making history to indulge in 
composing songs and romances. The aim of most of our 
early writers was not to please but to convince. They were 
authors of great constitutional papers, some of which, like the 
Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution, are 
reckoned among the ablest documents of the world. The 
Americans were given to oratory and they excelled in this kind 
of literature. We remember how in Revolutionary days 
James Otis and Patrick Henry thrilled their hearers with 
marvelous eloquence. American oratory reached a still higher 
stage in the period of Constitutional debate when great lawyers 
were guiding the ship of state through troubled waters.- That 
period developed the persuasive speeches of Henry Clay, the 

1 In 1847 adhesive stamps were used for postage. The rate on news- 
papers was nothing for distances under thirty miles; for more than thirty 
and under one hundred miles the rate was one cent. Beyond the borders 
of the state the charge was one and one-half cents. In 1839 W. F. Harn- 
den began carrying parcels between New York and Boston, and out of 
this little enterprise grew the great express companies of to-day. 

- See Longfellow's poem, The Building of the Ship. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 253 

grand and sonorous passages of Daniel Webster, and the clear 
and forcible logic of John C. Calhoun. 

Great American Writers. Washington Irving was our first 
conspicuous writer of lighter literature. His delightful sketch 
of Rip Van Winkle and the inimitable Ichabod Crane are 
familiar to school children. James Fenimore Cooper was 
our first well-known novelist and his romances reflect the 
life of the frontier and of the sea. Irving and Cooper were 
both natives and residents of New York. Other novelists of 
note at this time were William Gilmore Simms, of South Caro- 
lina, who wrote thrilling tales of Marion and Sumter and their 
raids in the Carolina swamps, and John Pendleton Kennedy, 
of Maryland, whose best-known story is Horseshoe Robinson, 
a tale of Tory ascendency in South Carolina. Our first dis- 
tinctively American poet was William Cullen Bryant, an- 
other son of New York. His greatest poem, Thanatopsis, was 
written when he was only seventeen years old. Lines to a 
JVafer Fozul and the Death of the Flozuers are poems of simple 
beauty that appeal to the child reader. Edgar Allan Poe, one 
of the greatest of all American writers, belongs to the South. 
The beautiful rhythmic lines of TJie Raven and Annabel Lee 
and his weird prose tales have ranked him among the world's 
great writers. John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Wads worth 
Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Low- 
ell, all New Englanders, were poets of the period from 1830 
to i860. Whittier's Snozvbound, a beautiful picture of a New 
England winter, and Longfellow's Evangeline, a story of the 
dispersal of the Acadians, furnish selections for many school 
readers. James Russell Lowell was the first of our poets to 
utilize the Yankee dialect for humor. Grandmother's Story 
of the battle of Bunker Hill was from the pen of Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, the genial poet-physician ; another poem by 
this author is Old Ironsides, written in 1830, when it was pro- 
posed to destroy the famous ship. Constitution, the winner of 
so many victories in the war of 1812.^ Two other writers 

1 In 1828 the Constitution was reported as unseaworthy, and in 1830 



254 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

of New England were Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poet, 
essayist, and philosopher, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, perhaps 
the best known of American novelists. His beautiful and 
powerful novel, The Scarlet Letter, is among the greatest of 
American compositions in fiction, but to the young readers 
this son of the Puritans is best known by his Tanglezvood Tales 
and his Twice-Told Tales. There were American historians, 
too; among them Prescott, Bancroft, and Parkman, who have 
made the dead days of our own history live again. Thus we 
see that in the first half of the nineteenth century, our country 
developed a literature which challenged the attention of the 
world and of which every American should feel justly proud. ^ 

America had made a brilliant beginning in science. In the 
years before i860 the works of such men as Louis Agassiz, J. 
D. Dana, and Asa Gray were adding to tlje knowledge of the 
minerals and animal and plant life in America. Matthew Fon- 
taine Maury, the " Pathfinder of the Seas," was the first to 
make a chart of the winds and currents and to urge upon the 
government the importance of making weather forecasts, for 
which work he did much to prepare. The work of S. F, B. 
Morse has already been mentioned, and the name of John 
James Audubon is familiar to every lover of birds. 

Churches and Religious Societies. The churches of Amer- 
ica were a great factor in the social and intellectual as well 
as in the religious life of the people. The Congregational, 
the Episcopal, and the Presbyterian churches were the strong- 
est denominations in New England, the Middle West, and 
the older southern states; the Methodist and Baptist churches 
developed rapidly in the West, and later in the South, and 
often held great camp meetings to which the people for many 
miles around gathered. The Catholic church increased in 

she was ordered to be dismantled, but owing to the popular protest 
aroused by Holmes's poem, Old Ironsides, the boat was preserved. In 
1833 the Constitution was rebuilt, but after 1855 she was used chiefly as 
a training ship. She made her last trip across the Atlantic in 1878, and 
in 1897 was put away in the Boston Navy Yard. 

1 In 1828 Noah Webster's dictionary was published. This was the first 
of the great American dictionaries. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 255 

numbers and received accessions from the Irish immigrants 
who were coming into the country. The Unitarians, an off- 
shoot from the Congregational Church, had sprung up in New 
England. Sunday schools were established, and missions, both 
foreign and domestic, were maintained. By 1850 several of 
the great Protestant churches had divided on account of the 
slavery controversy into Northern and Southern organizations. 
It was a great time also for the forming of other religious 
societies, the two most conspicuous of which were the Shakers 
and the Mormons. The Shakers, so called from certain rhyth- 
mical motions of the body in some of their religious exercises, 
were founded during the Revolution, and in 1826 numbered 
five thousand in their communities. The Mormons, founded 
by Joseph Smith, in 1830, at Manchester, Vermont, held to 
doctrines and practices which caused them to be driven from 
place to place and finally, in 1846, they settled in the far west- 
ern wilderness beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

Reforms. A more merciful spirit developed with the ad- 
vancement of education and religion. Punishment for crime 
became less cruel. The whipping-post, the pillory, and the 
stocks were abandoned.^ The prisons were more cleanly and 
more comfortable, asylums were provided for the insane, homes 
were established for the orphans, hospitals were built, and poor- 
houses were better kept.^ The laws of imprisonment for debt 
were repealed.^ A movement against the use of intoxicating 
liquors was inaugurated as early as 1817, and by 1830 a num- 
ber of Washingtonian, or temperance, societies had been 
formed. So strong did the movement become that in 1850 
the state of Maine adopted state-wide prohibition. The wom- 
an's rights movement had been started some years before to 
secure certain reforms in the state of Maine and by 1848 the 
demand was enlarged to include the right of suffrage. 

^ The whipping post is still used in Delaware. 

2 Prisoners had been herded together in cellars and dungeons or aban- 
doned mines. Under such conditions the prisoners became steadily worse 
in health and character. 

^ A poor old Revolutionary soldier had been found who had been in 
jail seven years for a debt of only five dollars. 



256 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Slavery in the South, The southern leaders were striving 
to deal with the grave responsibility of slavery, which rested 
on their section, in a way to preserve the best interests of both 
races. Complete and immediate abolition they feared for 
the reason that it would thrust upon the people a large class 
of homeless and irresponsible persons, who in some portions 
of the South would be a menace to society.^ There were 
many anti-slavery societies in the South; the majority of those 
in the whole country until 1827 were to be found in Maryland, 
Virginia, and North Carolina. These organizations urged the 
gradual emancipation of the slaves with compensation to the 
owners, and masters often liberated their slaves without com- 
pensation. There were colonies of free negroes in the South, 
and the republic of Liberia, which has been previously men- 
tioned, was designed as a state for emancipated negroes.^ 
There were between two and three hundred thousand free 
negroes in the South and only about one man in fifty was a 
slave-holder. The slaves were better fed and better clothed 
than the laboring class of many other lands at that time; they 
were nursed in sickness and protected in old age. In many 
cases the negroes were taught to read and write and had the 
benefit of religious instruction. Public opinion bitterly con- 
demned the master who allowed his slaves to be abused. When 
a slave was severely punished, it was usually for such offences 
as the law now forbids, the master being called upon to act as a 
sort of magistrate to keep peace and order on his estate. The 
domestic slave trade was considered necessary for the distri- 
bution of slaves to the parts of the South where their labor was 
most needed; but the evil of separating families was avoided as 
much as possible. The devotion of the slaves to " Ole Mars- 
ter " and " Ole Miss " and their pride in their " family " were 
always in evidence. The black boys and the white boys often 

^ England and France had emancipated their slaves in all their colonies, 
and in the West India Islands, where the blacks predominated, there were 
frequent and horrible negro uprisings. 

- In North Carolina alone there were over two thousand negroes eman- 
cipated between 1824 and 1826. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 257 

grew up together on the plantations and were playmates and 
friends. 

The Extreme Abolitionists. Slavery had not proved to be 
profitable in the North and had been gradually abolished. 
There had been some early movements, particularly among 
the Quakers, for the abolition of slavery throughout the coun- 
try, but, as a rule, the desire was for gradual emancipation. 
In the early thirties a radical and violent abolition movement 
developed in the North, led by William Lloyd Garrison, a fierce 
and uncompromising zealot. The promoters of this move- 
ment demanded the immediate and unconditional emancipa- 
tion of the slaves without regard to its effect upon the South 
and without compensation to the slave owners. Slavery was 
recognized hi the Constitution, and for this reason the aboli- 
tionists denounced that instrument as " a covenant with death 
and a league with hell," and they threatened secession from 
the Union, because under the Constitution union meant the 
continuance of slavery. They called the southern slavehold- 
ers criminals, and solemnly and publicly pledged themselves 
to continue their agitation until the slave should be free and 
" shall till the land of his thralldom enriched with the blood of 
his master." 

The abolition societies flooded Congress with petitions for 
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, in the 
territories, and in the states, regardless of the Missouri Com- 
promise of 1820, which had settled the question in the terri- 
tories, and contemptuous of the fact that Congress had no 
power over the domestic institutions in the states.^ The chief 
organ of the abolitionists was a paper called the Liberator, 
published by Garrison, in Boston, and this, as well as other 
aljolition publications of the times, was full of false representa- 
tions of the wretched condition of the slaves and the cruelties 
of the masters. Much' of this misrepresentation was due to 
ignorance, but it served to influence public opinion and to 

^ In 1790 Congress had declared in express terms that it had no power 
whatever concerning slavery in the states. 



258 STUDENT'S TTISTORV OF OUR COUNTRY 

inflame many good people. Some of the abolitionists resorted 
to desperate devices to arouse the slaves against their masters, 
and thus directly encouraged insurrection. At tirst the aboli- 
tionists Nvere tew in uunihor and there was a strong feel- 
ing agiiinst them in the North as well as in the South. Their 
meetings were often dispersed in tlie northern states and their 
leaders arrested. Ciradually, however, they gained adherents, 
and alKilition became a passionate tlemand among an increasing 
number of people. 

Dangers to the South. The southern people bitterly re- 
sented the attacks of the extreme abolitionists. In the tirst 
place they objected to interference with their domestic atfairs, 
owning slaves within the state being regarded as a matter that 
concerned the people of the state alone; in the second place, the 
southern people felt that the North was as much responsible 
as they for the existence of slavery in the cotnitry. No per- 
son who looked back to colonial times could consider the South 
responsible for the establishment of slavery. Once introduced. 
physical conditions in the South and the inevitable increase of 
the slaves tixed the system of servile labor on that region, and 
free hired labor was driven out. The abolitionist literature 
that was circulated through the mails and otherwise not only 
slandered the southern slave owner, but it tended to produce 
serious trouble among the slaves. In contirmation of the ap- 
prehension of the southern people, there was. in 1831, a negro 
uprising in Virginia, led by Nat Turner, and before it could 
be subdued over sixty people, most of them women and chil- 
dren, were brutally murdered. Many Soutlierners believed 
that Garrison and his followers were responsible in large 
measure for this uprising.^ 

Our greatest public men, both North and South, appreciated 
the seriousness of the situation growing out of the slavery agi- 
tation, and there was a determined etfort to quiet the conten- 
tion. Much bitterness of feeling was created by tlie constant 
petitions sent to Congress by the abolitionists, and a rule was 

^ This insurrection was not dirt\tlv duo to abolition action. 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 1830-1850 259 

j>assed to table all such communications. This was not deny- 
\n^ the right of petition, for Congress had no f>o\ver over 
slavery in the states, and the petitions were producing intense 
sectional hatred. If the people of the South had been divided 
on the right or the wrong of slavery, they stood together 
against the measures of the abolitionists, which, they thought, 
would bring ruin and disaster to their section. 

Social Conditions; Amusements. In America there were 
very few people who possessed great wealth, but there was, 
also, very little poverty. People were living in better homes 
and were more comfortable than formerly, though on the 
frontier the conditions of colonial life were repeated. Here 
the pioneer built his log cabin in his little clearing and got a 
few more acres under cultivation each year. In the West class 
distinctions amounted to practically nothing, and a truer de- 
mocracy even than that which Jefferson taught reigned su- 
preme. As new states grew out of the West we find fewer 
restrictions on the suffrage and gradually this spirit extends 
eastward and the older states modify their constitutions so as 
to remove property qualifications for voters.^ 

In the cities theater-going was a favorite amusement, and 
balls and parties still held sway. Even in New England cities, 
where the austerity of the early Puritans had to a large extent 
passed away, the people indulged in these pastimes. The peo- 
ple of the frontier settlements enjoyed house-raisings, husking- 
bees, and other diversions that our colonial forefathers had 
enjoyed. In the West a camp meeting was a great social as 
well as a religious event. People would go for miles and carry 

1 From 1841 to 1843 Rhode Island was the scene of a conflict known 
as Dorr's Rebellion. Rhode Island was still governed according to her 
old charter granted by King Charles II (See Page 68). There were 
property qualifications for voting, and a large number of citizens had no 
voice in the government. A convention of the discontented citizens drew 
up a new constitution, which provided for liberal suffrage. Under this 
constitution, Thomas W. Dorr was chosen governor, and a legislature 
was elected. But the government under the old constitution would not 
yield, and for a time there were two governors and two legislatures in 
the state. The Dorr faction finally gave way, but their demands were 
soon granted through a regular state convention which adopted a liberal 
constitution. 



26o STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

provisions enough to last several weeks, gathering together to 
enjoy each other's company and to listen to the preaching 
of some devoted missionary. 

The men of Jackson's time had discarded the bright-colored 
garments and powdered wigs of colonial days, now dressing 
rather simply and severely and wearing closely cropped hair. 
But the belles of the thirties and forties were still resplendent 
in flounces and bright-colored bodices, high-heeled slippers, 
and corkscrew curls. 

The American was sociable, friendly, and hospitable; he 
liked to talk and he was inordinately proud of his country. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What were the occupations of the people of Kentucky and Tennessee? 
2. What states furnished the settlers of Missouri? 3. Who was the first 
President to advocate strongly, internal improvements? 4. Why did this 
problem come to be so important? What parts of the country were most 
interested in it? 5. Why was New Orleans an important city? Charles- 
ton? 6. Where was the center of population in 1830? Where is it now? 
7. Locate three of the first railroad lines built. 8. What sort of farm 
implements were used in 1830? 10. What was the attitude of Southerners 
toward slavery at this time? 11. What effect did the Abolition crusade 
have upon this attitude? 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 

Andrew Jackson, President, 1829-1837 
John C. Calhoun, Vice-president, 1829-1833 
Martin Van Buren, Vice-president, 1833-1837 

Martin Van Buren, President, 1837-1841 
Richard M. Johnson, Vice-president, 1837-1841 

During the first forty years of our history the leading states- 
men were men who had participated directly or indirectly 




THE HERMITAGE. THE COUNTRY HOME OF ANDREW JACKSON NEAR 
NASHVILLE, TENN. 

in the Revolution or in the formation of the government; but 
in 1829 a new generation had come into power when Andrew 
Jackson was installed as the seventh President of the United 

261 



262 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

States.^ Not since the first election of Washington had there 
been such an outburst of pubHc enthusiasm; on the journey 
from '* The Hermitage " to \\'ashington Jackson was greeted 
everywhere by vast throngs of admirers who had come 
hundreds of miles to see " Old Hickory." Jackson himself 
was typical of the new generation and of the West. The 
rough and ready life of the frontier had developed his wonder- 
ful power of leadership; he was fearless and honest and pos- 
sessed those magnetic qualities which appeal to the great masses 
of mankind. His military career had made him a man of 
quick decision and prompt action, and these qualities he exer- 
cised in the executive office. 

The Spoils System ; the Cabinet and the Kitchen Cabinet. 
It had been the custom for appointive officers, such as post- 
masters, clerks, and marshals, to retain their positions under 
successive administrations as long as they gave efficient and 
faithful service. Jefferson had made a few changes in the 
civil service, so as to give both parties a share in the adminis- 
tration of the government, but with this exception the incoming 
of a President had not been followed by many removals from 
office. However, it was generally understood that Jackson's 
creed was, " To the victors belong the spoils," and that he 
intended to reward those friends who had loyally supported 
him during the campaign. As he had a multitude of deserving 
friends and as there were comparatively few vacancies, his 
inauguration made " half the officeholders in the country- 
quake in their slippers." In a few months he had removed 
more men from office than all his predecessors combined.^ 

1 Andrew Jackson was born on the border between North and South 
Carolina in 1767. When a boy of fourteen, he fought with the patriots 
at King's Mountain. He was reared in poverty, and in his early life he 
supported himself by saddle making and by working in the fields. In 
1788. he became a lawyer in Tennessee, and by his ability in leadership 
he won office after office in the gift of the people. He had no friendship 
for the English or the Indians, and his career during the war of 1812, 
and later in the first Seminole War in Florida, aroused popular applause. 
After his retirement from the Presidency he lived at "The Hermitage," 
his home in Tennessee, until his death in 1845. 

2 Jackson's plan of filling offices was followed to a greater or less ex- 



THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 263 

Jackson did not originate the " spoils system," for it had al- 
ready existed in many of the states, but to him and his advisers 
belongs the responsibility of introducing it into the broader 
field of federal politics. 

Jackson chose his cabinet on the basis of service to him; 
the ablest member of his cabinet was the Secretary of State, 
Martin Van Buren, a clever New York political manager, who 
was called the " Little Magician." No President ever relied 
less on his cabinet than Jackson; he rarely held cabinet meet- 
ings or asked the advice of the members of that body. He 
had a small group of advisers on the outside, whom the news- 
papers dubbed the " Kitchen Cabinet," and on these men he 
most relied for advice. 

The Tariff and the Sections. At the beginning of Jackson's 
administration, there was a determined feeling in the South 
that the high protective tariffs of 1824 and 1828 should be 
modified. In 18 16 some southern leaders had approved a 
limited protection in the hope of developing manufacturing 
interests. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was one of 
this number.^ But the experience was disappointing to the 
South, which was an agricultural section, and her people soon 
realized that their prosperity depended upon a freer move- 
ment of trade.^ A protective tariff enhanced the price of 
the manufactured goods which the South was compelled to 
buy, but it did not widen the markets for her staples, to- 

tent by succeeding Presidents until the time of the Civil Service Act in 
1887. 

1 At this period of the tariff discussion (1816) there was no contempla- 
tion upon the part of the great majority of public men that a high 
tariff would be maintained for many years. In fact. Clay, who after- 
wards became the great advocate of protection, said of it at this time, 
" that the object of protecting manufacturers was that we might eventually 
get articles of necessity made as cheaply at home as they could be im- 
ported, and thereby produce an independence of foreign countries." He 
expressed the belief that three or four years would be sufficient for a 
demonstration of the effect of protection, and would " place our manu- 
facturers on this desirable footing." It will be seen, therefore, that the 
concession that Calhoun and other southern statesmen made to a moder- 
ately high tariff was regarded as a temporary expedient and not as a 
permanent policy. 

- Slave labor was not adapted to factory work. 



264 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



bacco, cotton, and rice, nor did it increase the price of her 
products. 

In 1816 the chief interest of Massachusetts lay in commerce, 
and with Daniel Webster as her spokesman she stood out 
boldly against the protective tariff and in favor of practically 

free trade. But in 1828 the 
whole of New England was 
a manufacturing section and 
ardently supported the pro- 
tective system. Some of the 
western states favored a 
high tariff to develop fac- 
tories for their raw mate- 
rials, and, as New England 
advocated internal improve- 
ments, which were so much 
needed in the West, the 
East and the West stood 
somewhat together on these 
issues. On the other hand, 
New England opposed the 
sale of public lands at low 
prices, because that policy 
attracted people and pro- 
moted settlement in the West, and the South stood with the 
West on this issue. Thus the West was in sympathy with 
the North in some respects, and with the South in others. 

The southern objection to the protective policy became 
more pronounced because it was regarded as of doubt- 
ful constitutionality and because it taxed the southern 
producers and consumers for the benefit of Northern manu- 
facturers. It will be recalled that several southern legisla- 
tures in 1828 had made protests against the " tariff of 
abominations." The most important of these protests was 
that of the South Carolina legislature, formulated into a 
celebrated document known as "The Exposition," defining the 




DANIEL WEBSTER 



THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 



265 



nature of the Federal Union and the reserved powers of the 
states. This was the work of John C. Calhoun, who, after 
mature study of the Constitution, opposed the doctrine of 
protection. In 1828, however, neither South Carolina nor 
any other southern state went further than to issue protests 
and the agitation ceased for the time because the South hoped 
that wdien the old " Hero of New Orleans " came into his own 
the tariff burden would be lightened. 

The Great Debate. In his first message to Congress Jack- 
son called attention to the fact that the revenue of the federal 
government was greater than necessary, and suggested a re- 
vision of the tariff. The controversy that followed revealed 
with startling distinctness 
the wide difference be- 
tween the views of the 
two sections. Robert Y. 
Hayne, senator from 
South Carolina, as spokes- 
man for his state and 
for the South, demon- 
strated in a masterly ar- 
gument the injury to his 
section from the protect- 
ive system. Following 
Calhoun's arguments in 
the famous " Exposition," 
he defined the union as 
a compact or partnership 
entered into by sovereign 
states which delegated 
certain powers to the fed- 
eral government and re- 
served all other powers to themselves ; w hen Congress exer- 
cised powers beyond those granted and passed a law that was 
unconstitutional and unjust, it became the right and the duty 
of the state, as Hayne argued, to declare such law null and 




ROBERT Y. HAYNE 



266 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

void within her borders until a convention of all the states 
could be assembled for approval or disapproval. This con- 
tention in its last analysis justified secession, but Havne and 
Calhoun hoped that South Carolina would not feel compelled 
to go to this length : they urged nullification as a means of 
protecting the states against federal aggression and thus of 
preserving the Union. Hayne had only re-stated the views of 
many of the framers of the Constitution. The Kentucky and 
\^irginia legislatures had expressed the same ideas in the 
famous resolutions of 1798. which were WTitten by Jefiferson 
and Madison respectively. New England had given utter- 
ance to the same opinion in 1803, and again during the W^ar 
of 1812. 

Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, who formerly opposed 
protection and now favored it. replied to Hayne. He did not 
undertake to answer Hayne's contention that the protective 
tarifif was a grievous injury to the South, but he attacked the 
doctrine of nullification and advanced the view that the Union 
was not a compact of sovereign states, but that the federal gov- 
ernment was superior to the states; that the states could not 
nullify a law of Congress, and that the Union could not be dis- 
solved. Notwithstanding the historical facts and the pre- 
viously accepted view of the nature of the government, Web- 
ster's speech, which was a powerful and eloquent deliverance, 
was regarded by many people in the North as a correct ex- 
position of the nature and powers of the federal government. 

The Tariff of 1832. Two years after this great debate in 
the Senate a new tarifif bill was brought forward upon the 
suggestion of Henry Clay, who was an ardent protectionist. 
Instead of lowering the tarifif this bill simply eliminated from 
the tarifif of 1828 some of its most objectionable features and 
preserved the protective duties in full force. In spite of the 
protests of the South this bill was enacted in 1832. 

Nullification Ordinance. This new tariff was enacted in 
July: in November a convention of the people of South Caro- 
lina, called by the legislature, was assembled at Columbia; 



THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 267 

and on the twenty-fourth day of the nuMith the tariff laws of 
1828 and 1832 were declared to be null and void within the 
state of South Carolina, and the state threatened to secede 
from the Union if the federal government attempted to enforce 
these laws at her ports. ^ This ordinance of nullification was 
not to go into effect until h\>bruary i, 1833. It was hoped 
that with time for deliberation Congress would repeal the 
objectionalile tariff act. 

Jackson and South Carolina. Jackson had urged the revi- 
sion of the tariff and he believed that the reserved rights of 
the states should be maintained, but the action of South Caro- 
lina roused his military instincts and he met the situation with 
soldierlv directness.- In a proclamation to the people of South 
Carolina he declared that his duty \vas to enforce the laws of 
the Union and this he intended to do at any cost. He warned 
the people that force would be employed if they attempted to 
resist the laws of the United States; he dispatched troops to 
Charleston and asked Congress to enlarge his powers for the 
enforcement of the law. Congress responded whh an act 
known as the Force Bill which was passed March i, 1833. 
South Carolina did not flinch in the face of these hostile 
measures. Hayne was called from the Senate to the governor- 
ship and in a stirring proclamation to the people of the state 
he urged them to stand firm in their resistance to the obnoxious 
tariff laws and if need be meet force with force. Calhoun 
resigned the Vice-presidency to take Hayne's place in the 
Senate, there to fight the battles of his state.'* With all his 

1 It is said that Edward Livingston, tlic author of the nnUification ordi- 
nance, had James Madison, the " Father of the Constitntion," to give his 
opinion concerning it before it was puhHshed. The aged ex- President 
offered some amendments which were readily adopted. Shortly before 
his death in 1836. Madison expressed his admiration for Clay, and his 
successful compromise of the tariff differences which threatened to de- 
stroy the union. (Peck, The Jiu-ksoition Hf<ocli, page 285.) 

2 At a banquet held on Jefferson's birthday. April 13. 1830, Jackson was 
invited to l)e present and to give a toast of his own choosing. His subject 
was the " Federal Union ; it must and shall be preserved." and in this 
manner Jackson announced the position he would take if South Carolina 
executed her threat of nullification. 

3 In case of the death or resignation of the Vice-president, the President 



268 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

powerful logic he opposed the passage of the Force Bill and 
he pleaded that the federal government remain true to the 
original ideal of the Constitution, for by that means alone, 
he believed, the Union could be preserved. 

Compromise Tariff of 1833. While the administration held 
the sword in one hand, the olive branch was offered in the 
other. In a message to Congress Jackson insisted upon the 
repeal of the tariff law and Congress undertook to make a 
satisfactory revision. South Carolina agreed to suspend the 
Ordinance of Nullification until the close of the session 
of Congress, for she was more than willing to go half way 
in an eft'ort at conciliation. Henry Clay, true to his reputa- 
tion as the " Great Pacificator," suggested a compromise tariff 
which provided for the gradual reduction of the duties for a 
period of ten years until they should reach the general level 
of twenty per cent, which was the rate of the tariff' of 1816. 
Calhoun earnestly supported Clay, for he deplored the sec- 
tional divergence which the tariff' had produced. Clay's com- 
promise tariff became a law !March 3. 1833. and South Carolina 
repealed her ordinance nullifying the tariff's of 1828 and 1832. 
but at the same time she passed another ordinance nullifying 
the Force Bill. ]\Iany thoughtful men feared that the storm 
had merely blown over for the time. Afterwards Jackson 
himself said, " the next will be the slavery or negro question." 
And indeed so it seemed, for while the nullification controversy 
was in progress, the radical abolition movement, which has 
been described in a preceding chapter, was inaugurated and 
petitions for the abolition of slavery began pouring into Con- 
gress. 

Jackson and the Bank. During these tempestuous months, 
w'hen the tariff' grievance and nullification were absorbing the 
attention of the South, another presidential election had taken 
place. The National Republicans, whose party creed was the 
national bank and the " American system " of high tariff' 

pro titnporc of the Senate presides over that body, but the office of Vice- 
president remains vacant. 



THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 269 

and internal improvements, had put forth their great leader. 
Henry Clay. The Democrats supported Jackson. The chief 
issue in the election was the United States Bank. From the 
l>eginning of his administration Jackson had opposed the hank 
as unconstitutional and as an instrument of corruption in 
politics and he declared that the government funds were not 
safe in its keeping". The friends of the institution took alarm 
and in 1832, four years before the charter was to expire, Clay 
submitted to Congress a bill for its recharter.^ The bill passed 
both houses of Congress, but was promptly vetoed by the Presi- 
dent and the question went to the people as an issue in the 
presidential campaign. Jackson was reelected to the Presi- 
dency and Martin \"an Buren was elected \^ice-president. 

Removal of Deposits ; the " Pet Banks." Jackson re- 
garded his reelection as an approval of his policy toward the 
bank, and after the nullification storm had blown over he made 
resolute war on the institution. The Secretary of the Treas- 
ury was ordered to withhold any future government money 
from the bank and deposit in state banks instead. The banks 
selected for government deposits were managed for the most 
part by Jackson men and these institutions were nicknamed 
the " pet banks." The removal of the deposits meant the 
end of the United States Bank and in 1836 when its charter 
expired it secured another charter from the state of Pennsyl- 
vania and continued business as a state bank. 

Xjeorgia and the Indians. Another controversy came to a 
head during the early thirties — that with Georgia concerning 
the Indians. When that state gave her western lands to the 
federal government in 1802, it was upon the condition that 
the Indians should be removed from within her borders as 
soon as possible. The Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and 
Chickasaws possessed valuable lands in Mississippi, Alabama, 
and Georgia. Again and again did the state of Georgia urge 
tlie removal of the Indians in order to open the lands to set- 

^ This bank was the second United States Bank, and had been chartered 
in 1816 for a period of twenty years. 



270 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

tiers. In 1827 the lands of the Creeks within the state were 
bought by the federal government, but the Cherokees still re- 
mained. At last, impatient at the long delay, Georgia took 
the matter into her own hands and in 1828 annexed the Cher- 
okee lands to five adjacent counties. The Cherokees, who 
were the most civilized of the southern Indians, protested 
against this action as a violation of their ancient right to the 
soil and their treaty rights as well. They appealed for relief 
to the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Justice 
Marshall sustained the Indians, but Georgia ignored the deci- 
sion of the court and continued to assert her rights over the 
lands. Jackson sustained the state. In 1835 the Indians were 
removed into the region beyond the Mississippi which Congress 
had set apart as an Indian territory. The Cherokees received 
five million dollars for their lands and an additional grant 
in their new home. Soon the other southern tribes re- 
linquished their claims to lands east of the great river on 
similar terms. 

Black Hawk War; War with Osceola. In 1816 the Sac 
and Fox Indians had ceded to the United States their lands 
in Illinois and Wisconsin. In 1832, under the leadership of 
Black Hawk, these tribes revolted and attempted to recover 
their lands. ^ After a wasting frontier war, the Indians were 
subdued and were removed to lands beyond the Mississippi. 
On their westward march numbers of them, including women 
and children, were mercilessly slaughtered. 

In Florida another Seminole war broke out in 1835 and 
continued intermittently for about seven years. However, the 
strength of the Seminoles was broken when Osceola, their 
chief, was captured.^ Then the Seminoles were taken west- 

1 Black Hawk was a former pupil of Tecumseh, and had aided the 
British in the war of 1812. He was captured in 1832 and taken east, 
where he was very much impressed with the power of the white men. 
On the bank of Rock River in Illinois, upon a high rocky bluff, stands 
a colossal statue of this great Indian chief. 

- Osceola was one of the most inveterate of fighters. He came imder 
a flag of truce to General Jessup, who was in command in Florida, and 
was detained and sent as a prisoner to Fort Moultrie at Charleston, South 



THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 271 

ward to swell the number of Indians that were already in the 
new territory. 

Foreign Affairs. During Jackson's administration two im- 
portant questions affecting our foreign relations were settled. 
Great Britain from the beginning of our history had continued 
to place heavy restrictions on our trade with the West Indies. 
Jackson agreed to make certain concessions to the British and 
the ports of the West Indies were thrown open to us; this 
trade became a source of great wealth to American merchants. 

The other affair was the settlement of the French spoliation 
claims. France had refused to pay for the damage done to 
our commerce in the trying period preceding the war of 181 2. 
Jackson now insisted upon settlement and the French complied. 
We secured not only commercial advantages and a money 
indemnity, but a position of greater dignity among the nations 
of the earth. 

Internal Improvements. Jackson's first administration saw 
the beginning of the steam railway in America, but the 
system of steam railroads was yet in its infancy and the ques- 
tion of internal improvements — the building of roads and 
canals — was still a vital issue in American politics. The 
National Republicans, or Whigs, as they were beginning to call 
themselves, ardently favored the system of internal improve- 
ments at federal expense.^ Jackson did not believe in the con- 
stitutionality of such expenditures of federal revenue, but, the 
public debt having been extinguished by 1835, ^ ^i^^ was passed 
providing that after January i, 1837, the surplus in the treas- 
ury was to be distributed among the states in quarterly pay- 
ments for them to use at their discretion. 

Speculation and the Specie Circular. After the removal of 
the deposits from the United States Bank, state banks increased 
in number. State banks of that day did business not only upon 

Carolina. This violation of the flag of truce was severely censured. 
Osceola died of fever in Charleston in 1839. 

1 They took the name of Whig because it was the name of the patriotic 
party during the Revolution. They were opposed to what they considered 
the tyranny of " king " Jackson, as the patriots had been opposed to King 
George. 



2'J2 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

their capital and the deposits placed in them, but could issue 
paper money, or "promises to pay." The officers of a bank 
exercised their own judgment as to how much paper they 
would issue. The prosperity of the country, the great im- 
provements and inventions, and the easy means of getting 
money caused people to expect to get rich quickly. The busi- 
ness of the country grew so rapidly that more money was 
needed and, as there was no great amount of silver or gold, 
the banks thought to supply the need by issuing paper. Im- 
mense areas of western land were bought and paid for in state 
bank notes, and the government soon found itself embarrassed 
bv large receipts of paper money. All went well for a while, 
but conservative business nien knew that this could not last. 
Jackson, too, while he liked the state banks, did not believe 
in this "wild cat" banking. In July, 1836, a circular was 
issued by the President demanding specie or metallic money 
in payment for public lands. This policy bore heavily upon 
the banks, for paper money was plentiful and coin was scarce; 
this, with the further fact that the state banks carrying govern- 
ment deposits were under obligations to pay out to the states, 
on the first of January, 1837, the first installment of the surplus 
revenue, caused a great demand for coin. 

Election of Van Buren; Panic of 1837. In the presiden- 
tial election of 1836 the Whig vote was divided among 
Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison and two other can- 
didates. The Democrats uniting upon Van Buren ^ as their 
candidate for the Presidency and Richard \l. Johnson ^ of 
Kentucky for the Vice-presidency, won the victory. Thus the 
mantle of " Old Hickory " fell on the " Little Magician " from 
New York. 

1 Martin Van Buren was born in New York in 1782. He was United 
States senator from New York, and also governor of that state. His 
great ability as a party manager in New York politics gave him the name 
of the '■ Little Magician." Jackson appointed him minister to Great 
Britain during his first administration. In 1848 Van Buren was the un- 
successful candidate of the Free-Soil party for the Presidency. He died 
m New York in 1862. 

- Richard M. Johnson was the slayer of Tecumseh m the Battle of the 

Thames. 



THE JACKSONIAN EPOCH 273 

Hardly was Van Buren inaugurated before a great financial 
storm swept over the country. There was no coin to redeem 
the bank notes or to pay the government for the western lands. 
The treasury surplus was to be distributed among the states, 
but there was very little to distribute.^ The purchasing power 
of paper money was so low that flour was eleven dollars a 
barrel and corn was a dollar and fifteen cents a bushel, and in 
the early months of 1837 there were bread riots in New York 
City. This condition of panic continued for more than a year 
and brought suffering and poverty to many people. 

The Independent Treasury. Van Buren called a special 
session of Congress to devise measures of relief and to consider 
some safe way of handling government funds. A law was en- 
acted to allow the treasury to use its own notes, or promises 
to pay, as legal tender to the value of ten million dollars, and 
this brought about some relief from the financial stringency, 
inasmuch as the government's obligations were accepted more 
readily than the paper notes of the state banks. The Whigs 
were very much in favor of reestablishing the United States 
Bank, but Van Buren, like Jackson, condemned that institution 
and proposed an altogether new plan for handling government 
finances. This was the Independent Treasury system; the 
government was to keep its revenues in rooms, vaults, and safes 
to be provided for the Treasury Department and there were 
to be branches of the treasury, or subtreasuries, in a few of 
the leading cities. This bill provoked such bitter opposition 
from the Whigs that it did not become a law for three years. 

" Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." The panic of 1837 caused 
the Democratic party to be defeated in the election of 1840. 
The Whigs put forth a soldier candidate who strongly appealed 
to the affections of the people. Passing over their great 
leaders, Webster and Clay, they named General William Henry 
Harrison of Ohio, the hero of Tippecanoe. John Tyler of 
Virginia, a discontented Democrat, was named for Vice-presi- 
dent. Throughout the country there was great enthusiasm 

1 The states received in all three installments before the collapse came. 



274 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

and the popular cry was, " Down with the administration, 
hurrah for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Public meetings 
were held in log cabins to emphasize Harrison's humble 
western life, but in some places the crowds were so large that 
they were measured by the acre.^ Van Buren, the Democratic 
candidate, could hardly get a hearing, and Harrison and Tyler 
were overwhelmingly victorious. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. Who were the two popular idols at this time? 2. Why was John 
Quincy Adams called " Old Man Eloquent " ? 3. Why is this period 
sometimes called the period of the "New Democracy"? 4. How had 
candidates been nominated up to this time? What new method took the 
place of the old? 5. Have we the spoils system to-day? 6. Why was the 
South opposed to the high tariff? 7. Distinguish between nullification 
and secession. 8. What two legislatures in earlier times had passed reso- 
lutions stistaining the right of nullification? 

1 A Baltimore newspaper suggested that Harrison would be more at 
home in a log cabin with a barrel of hard cider, than in the White House. 
The Whigs made capital of this comment, and " Log Cabin and Hard 
Cider " soon became another campaign slogan. Horace Greeley started a 
Whig newspaper in New York which he called the Log Cabin, and which 
immediately became popular. This paper grew into the New York Tribune 
in 1841. 



CHAPTER XIX 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 



William Henry Harrison, President, 1841- 

John Tyler, Vice-president, then President, 1841-1845 

James K. Polk, President, 1845-1849 
George M. Dallas, Vice-president, 1845-1849 

Death of Harrison. The Whigs, triumphant in the election, 
promptly set about putting their 
policies into effect. A special 
session of Congress was called, 
but before it assembled the Pres- 
ident was dead. Harrison was 
nearing his seventieth year and 
the strain and excitement of the 
campaign had worn him out. 
During the first few weeks of 
his term Washington swarmed 
with office seekers. The kind- 
hearted old man would not turn 
one away; altogether it was too 
much for his weak frame to bear. 
On April 4, 1841, just one month 
after the inauguration. President 
Harrison died.^ The country 
was shocked ; it was the first time a President had died in office. 

1 William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia in 1773. He fought 
under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory. In 1800 he was made governor oi the territory of Indiana. Dur- 
ing the War of 1812 he was a major-general, and distinguished himself 
by his defeat of Proctor and Tecumseh at the Ijattlc of the Thames. 
He was a member of Congress and a senator from Ohio. President Adams 
sent him as minister to the United States of Colombia in 1828. 




WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 



276 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Tyler and the Whigs. John Tyler became President.^ Al- 
though elected on a Whig ticket, he was a Democrat and a 
state-rights man, who had affiliated with the Whigs for a time 
because of his opposition to some of Jackson's measures. The 
Whigs had put him on their ticket for Vice-president in the 

hope of gaining the votes of 
discontented Democrats, but 
they had foreseen no such awk- 
ward situation as " Tyler too " 
becoming President. It was 
not long before they realized to 
their confusion that Tyler's 
\exatious veto bade fair to 
thwart all their political plans. 
The special session of Con- 
gress which Harrison had called 
met in May, 1841, and then the 
t rouble began. The Whigs first 
repealed the Independent Treas- 
ury Act which had been passed 
in 1840, and Tyler permitted 
the bill for repeal to become a 
law. The next thing in order was the reestablishment of the 
United States Bank and a bill for this purpose passed both 
houses of Congress, but Tyler vetoed this and all other bank 
bills. The Whigs were not strong enough to override his 
veto and their rage knew no bounds. ^ The Whig leaders de- 
nounced Tyler and read him out of their party; the whole 
cabinet resigned in a body, except Daniel Webster, the Secre- 

1 Jolin Tyler was liorn in Virginia in 1790. He was graduated at Wil- 
liam and Mary college in 1806. He served his state as member of Con- 
gress, as governor and as senator. In i84o'his opposition to the Democrats 
on several points gave him a place on the Whig ticket, but when upon 
Harrison's death he became President, he showed that he was still a 
Democrat and in harmony with Democratic policies. He was president 
of the peace conference in 1861. and served in the Confederate Congress. 
He died in 1862 at Richmond. 

2 In order to pass a bill over the President's veto, a two-thirds majority 
in each house of Congress is necessary. 




ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 2']'] 

lary of State. During the first two years of the administra- 
tion Congress and Tyler were constantly embroiled; neither 
side would yield and very little was accomplished. A new 
tariff, however, was passed in 1842, raising the duties which 
had just reached the twenty per cent level under the com- 
promise tariff of 1833. 

Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Webster remained at his post 
in the caljinet when his colleagues resigned, because he was 
engaged with Lord Ashburton, the British Minister, in the 
settlement of the long-standing dispute over the boundary of 
Maine. ^ The treaty of peace of 1783 had not fixed this 
boundary line, nor had the treaty with Great Britain in 
1818, and there was constant agitation over the disputed 
territory. 

In August, 1842, a treaty was signed by the representatives 
of the two governments fixing the boundary line along the 
lieight of land which separates the Atlantic-flowing rivers from 
those whose course is northward to the St. Lawrence. In this 
treaty an extradition agreement was arranged by which crim- 
inals fleeing from either country into the other could be re- 
turned for trial. Our western boundary was established as 
far west as the Rockies ; beyond was Oregon which the United 
States and Great Britain continued to occupy jointly. 

The Story of Texas. The Whigs spurned Tyler, and the 
Democrats would have none of him; so without the support 
of either great party, he was a lonely figure in his unexpected 
Presidency. Tyler, nevertheless, undertook to accomplish a 
great thing — the annexation of Texas. This young empire 
to tlie southwest had been settled by the Spanish, although 
the French, by virtue of La Salle's ill-fated expedition of 
1685, laid claim to the region as a part of the Louisiana 
country. In 1803, after cessions and recessions on the part of 

1 An efifort was made in icS.^i to adjust tliis difference. The King of 
the Netherlands was called upon to arbitrate, and he awarded to Canada 
a strip of territory claimed by Maine. That state threatened to nullify 
the af^rcement if tlie federal government accepted it, and Massachusetts 
said she would stand by her sister state. The United States refused to 
accept the award of the arbitrator. 



278 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Spain and France, Louisiana was purchased by the United 
States and we claimed that it extended on the southwest to 
the Rio Grande River, thus inchidinj? Texas. Spain disputed 
this claim, and in the treaty of 1819 with that nation we 

suri'endered all title to 
Texas and agreed to the 
Sabine River as our south- 
west boundary. In 1821 
Mexico gained her inde- 
l)cndence and Texas as well 
as a vast region west of 
the Rockies was lost to 
Spain, these regions be- 
coming provinces of the 
new nation of Mexico. 
Texas was very sparsely 
settled ; with the exception 
of a few old Spanish mis- 
sions and a few trading 
posts here and there, the 
Indians held the lands and 
roamed over the broad 
prairies. After 1821 many 
citizens of the United States under liberal land grants from 
the Mexican. Government settled in Texas. 11ie greatest of 
these pioneers was Stei)hen h\ Austin, the " Father of Texas." 
Mexican rule was arbitrary and inconstant; first one successful 
revolutionist and then another ruled the country. The master- 
ful men who peopled Texas were Americans, coming for the 
most part from the southern states, and they found Mexican 
rule intolerable. They petitioned the Mexican government for 
redress of grievances but without avail, and, losing all hope 
of a fair hearing, these bold Texans took matters into their 
own hands, revolted, and proclaimed their independence on 
March 2, 1836. 

A force of several thousand Mexicans, under General Santa 




STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 



279 



Anna, invaded Texas. They besieged the old fort of the 
Alamo at San Antonio which was defended by Travis and a 
band of one hundred and eighty-three daring men who resolved 
" never to surrender or retreat." These heroic men and mar- 
tyrs met death at the hands of the blood-thirsty Mexicans. A 
few weeks later at Goliad a force of Texans had surrendered to 
the Mexicans as prisoners of war, but in violation of the agree- 
ment they were marched out, numbering three hundred and 
seventy-one, and shot down in cold l)l(xj(l.' A Texan army 
numbering fewer than a thousand men, under General Sam 
Houston, retreated from Gonzales before Santa Anna's ad- 
vancing horde far into the south- , >— . 
eastern part of the state. At length 
at San Jacinto they turned and gave 
battle on the twenty-first day of 
April, 1836. Though aided by two 
small cannons, the Texans fought 
for the most part in true frontier 
fashion; after the first volley they 
fell upon the enemy with knives and 
clubl)ed rifles, and the Mexicans re- 
coiled in terror as they advanced 
with the blood-curdling cry, " Re- 
member the Alamo ! " " Remember 
Goliad!" Hundreds of the Mex- 
icans were killed and over seven 

hundred w^ere taken prisoners, including the haughty Santa 
Anna, the self-styled " Napoleon of the West." 

Movement for Annexation. With her independence won, 
Texas set up a republic, with a constitution fashioned after that 
of the United States. But it was not a part of the contempla- 
tion of the Texas patriots to remain a separate nation; they 
ardently desired annexation to the United States. In 1836 
they signified this desire, but all that was accomplished was a 

' The terms of surrenrlcr have recently been brought to light by Dr. 
Barker, of the University of Texas, and prove that the Mexicans meant 
one thing, while the Texans understood another. 




SAM HOUSTON 



28o STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

recognition of the new republic by the United States.^ There 
was a large element in the North who opposed the annexation 
because it would increase the power of the South and widen 
the slaveholding area. The abolitionists bitterly fought an- 
nexation. Jackson, who favored annexation, and Van Buren, 
who opposed it, had both read the signs of the times and re- 
frained from pressing the issue of annexation to a settlement. 

Tyler's Annexation Treaty. President Tyler took up the 
cjuestion with eagerness and with John C. Calhoun as his Secre- 
tary of State made cjuiet overtures to Texas; in 1844 he sub- 
mitted to the Senate a treaty of annexation which that body 
promptly rejected. But Tyler had precipitated the issue on the 
country. New England fought the measure with all her 
strength ; and John Ouincy Adams said that the annexation of 
Texas would justify a dissolution of the Union. Garrison, 
the abolitionist, proposed that Massachusetts take the lead in 
withdrawing from the Union if more slave territory were 
added. The ardent annexationists of the South cried, " Texas 
or disunion." The year 1844 was a presidential year and the 
question became an issue in the campaign. 

Election of 1844. The Whigs rallied around their beloved 
" Harry of the West," Henry Clay, and again nominated him 
for the Presidency. Clay was opposed to the annexation of 
Texas. The Democrats passed by Van Buren and other 
avowed candidates and nominated a " dark horse," ^ James K. 
Polk of Tennessee ; George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania was 
nominated for the Vice-presidency. The Democrats boldly 
advocated " the re-annexation of Texas and the reoccupation 
of Oregon," so that ** Texas and Oregon " and " Fifty- four, 
forty or fight " became campaign slogans. Clay found him- 
self in a difficult position ; iie must not offend the Whigs of the 

1 This .recognition was granted in 1837. 

- By the phrase " dark horse," is meant a candidate who has not been 
prominently before liie people prior to his nomination. The Democratic 
convention met at Baltimore. It was the first whose proceedings were 
reported by telegraph, Morse's line between Washington and Baltimore 
being completed. The people refused to believe the news when it flashed 
over the wires that Polk was chosen. 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 



281 



North who were bitterly opposed to annexation and he must 
not offend the South and the West who ardently favored it. 
He wrote several letters explaining his position on the Texas 
question, but with each letter he explained away a few more 
votes, because his position was not satisfactory to either side.^ 
Polk and Dallas were elected.- 

Texas Annexed. Upon 
assembling in December, 

1844, Congress accepted 
the success of the Demo- 
crats as a verdict of the 
people in favor of the 
annexation of Texas, and 
before the session closed 
Tyler had the satisfaction 
of realizing his cherished 
ambition of bringing the 
Lone Star state into the 
Union. On March 3, 

1845, the last day of his 
administration, the Presi- 
dent signed the bill an- 
nexing Texas to the 
Union. The following james k. polk 
December Texas formally 

became a member of the Sisterhood of States, 

Other New States. Arkansas, a part of the Louisiana, pur- 
chase, had been admitted in 1835 as a slaveholding state, and 
in 1836 the balance between the slave states and the free states 
was restored by the admission of Michigan, which was carved 

1 The Liberty or Abolition party would not support Clay because of 
his position concerning Texas. They did not poll many votes, but Van 
Burcn, their candidate, received enough votes in New York to prevent 
Clay's election. 

-James K. Polk was born in North Carolina in 1795. When he was a 
small boy his father migrated to Tennessee. Polk was a member of 
Congress from his adopted state for fourteen years, and twice was chosen 
Speaker of the House. He served as governor of Tennessee, 1839 to 1841. 
He died at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1849. 




282 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

out of the Northwest Territory. Florida was admitted to the 
Union as a slaveholding state the year of the annexation of 
Texas. In 1846 and 1848 Iowa and Wisconsin came in and 
the states were thirty in number — fifteen slave and fifteen 
free. 

The Settlement of the Oregon Question. It appeared as if 
Polk's administration would be marked by two wars with for- 
eign nations. The annexation of Texas threatened to bring 
on hostilities wnth Mexico, and the claim to Oregon as far 
north as the fifty-fourth degree and fortieth minute of latitude 
bade fair to involve us in serious trouble with Great Britain. 
Fortunately, the latter difficulty was peaceably adjusted. The 
Oregon country included all of what is now the states of 
Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, together with British Colum- 
bia as far north as Russian Alaska. The United States 
claimed the region on account of the discovery by Captain 
Gray in 1792 and the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804.^ 
Great Britain based her claim on the explorations of Alexander 
Mackenzie and the traders of the Hudson Bay Company. In 
1818 the two governments agreed to a joint occupation of 
Oregon, and merchants and fishermen from both countries had 
grown rich in bartering with the Indians for furs and in catch- 
ing fish in the streams or along the coasts. The country was 
rapidly filling up with settlers from the United States and our 
statesmen resolved to hold it. 

A favorite cry during Polk's campaign had been " Fifty- 
four, forty or fight." But England had no idea of relinquish- 
ing her claim to the whole Oregon country ; she declared that it 
was all hers as far south as the Columbia River. For a time 

1 Congress made appropriations for exploring the region between Mis- 
souri and the Rocky Mountains, which was commonly designated on the 
maps of that time as the " Great American Desert." John C. Fremont, 
known as the " Pathfinder," was in command of three expeditions into 
that country between 1842 and 1846. He crossed the Rockies at South 
Pass, and explored the Great Salt Lake region, went into Oregon and 
also Southern California. Marcus Whitman, a missionary among the 
Indians, saw that the United States should make good her claim to 
Oregon, or Great Britain would take possession of it. He made a journey 
to the East to explain conditions to our statesmen at Washington, and 
returned in 1843 with a party of settlers. 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 



^^3 



it seemed as if war might come, but more mature counsel pre- 
vailed. Both sides made concessions and by the treaty of 
1846 the boundary was fixed at the forty-ninth parallel. At 
last the northern boundary of the United States was complete 
from sea to sea.^ 

Independent Treasury and the Walker Tariff. The restora- 
tion of the Democrats to power was marked by a change in 
financial legislation. The Independent Treasury System was 
reestablished in 1846 and 
with slight modification 
has continued until the 
present day. The tariff 
of 1842, passed while 
Tyler was in ofiice, was 
lowered to about a rev- 
enue standard by the 
Walker Tariff of 1846.- 
This tariff act gave such 
satisfaction that the bit- 
ter feeling of previous 
times was considerably 
allayed. 

The Mexican Situa- 
tion. It was well that 
the Oregon controversy 
was peaceably settled, be- 
cause from the very be- 
ginning of Polk's admin- 
istration trouble was brewing with Mexico. That nation still 
claimed Texas and had declared that she would regard its 
annexation to the United States as equivalent to an 
act of war. After annexation was accomplished she re- 

1 There was some further dispute as to the course of the northern h'ne 
after it reached the Pacific inlets. This was settled in 1871 by another 
treaty. 

2 So named for Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, the Secretary of the 
Treasury. When first passed, the tariff of 1842 was little, if any, above 
the revenue basis, but the return of prosperity brought in more revenue. 




TEPiRITOKY IN DISPUTE BETWEEN THE UNITED 
STATES AND MEXICO 



284 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

called her minister from Washington and dismissed our 
minister in ^lexico.^ There was also a quarrel over the south- 
ern boundary of Texas; we claimed that the state extended 
to the Rio Grande while the ^lexicans maintained that the 
Xueces River bounded Texas on the southwest. Still another 
(Mtlerence between the countries was the fact that the Mexican 
government owed large sums to American citizens and the 
President determined to insist upon the pa}Tnent of these obli- 
gations in lands, if not in money. ]\Ioreover, Polk and the 
people of the South and West were casting longing eyes upon 
California and New Mexico, the vast region west of the 
Rockies and south of Oregon. The causes of the ]Mexican 
\\'ar then may be summed up as follows : first, the annexation 
of Texas ; second, the dispute over the Texas boundary ; third, 
a desire to extend our boundaries to the Pacific and thus fulfill 
what in the language of the day was called, " our manifest 
destiny." 

An effort was made to settle the dift'erences between the two 
countries peaceably ; but in view of the disturbed state of affairs 
General Zachary Taylor was ordered to hold the disputed strip 
between the Nueces and the Rio Grande and he took position 
at Corpus Christi. one hundred and fifty miles from the ^lex- 
ican border. In the meantime. President Polk sent an am- 
bassador to Alexico whose mission was, if possible, to settle 
the points in dispute, to off'er ^lexico fifteen million dollars for 
California and New Mexico, and also agree to cancel the in- 
debtedness of that government to American citizens. But the 
Mexicans refused to receive our representative. 

Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. General Zacharv 
Taylor soon moved southward to Brownsville on the Rio 
Grande opposite the ]Mexican town of Matamoras, whereupon 
the Mexican General Arista made demand upon Taylor to re- 
tire to the Nueces and crossed the river in a demonstration 
of force. General Taylor retreated toward Corpus Christi in 

1 Such acts as these on tlie part of one nation to another arc always 
regarded as signifying hostile intentions. 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 285 

order not to be cut oft* from his supplies there ; but he soon 
turned and defeated a large INIexican force at Palo Alto and 
at Resaca de la Palma. The Mexicans were driven back 
across the river and General Taylor followed and took pos- 
session of the Mexican town of Matamoras. 

Declaration of War. These battles were fought in April. 
On May 12, 1846, the United States formally recognized the 
fact that war with Mexico actually existed. The military 
plan of the United States was to occupy California and New 
Mexico, which Polk determined to claim as indemnity, and to 
push onward through the northern provinces of Mexico to the 
capital and compel the Mexicans to come to terms. The navv 
was to assist on the coast of California and in the Gulf of 
Mexico. A call was issued for volunteers and there was 
prompt response chiefly in the South and \\'est. Congress 
appropriated sixteen million dollars for prosecuting the war. 

California and New Mexico. California was taken in the 
summer of 1846 by a fleet under Commodores Sloat and Stock- 
ton, aided by Colonel John C. Fremont, who had moved with 
a land force into California from Oregon. Shortly before 
this movement, however, there had been a revolt of the native 
Mexicans of California in July, 1846, and at the same time 
American settlers rose in insurrection and set up the " Bear 
Flag Republic." After the landing of Sloat at Monterey and 
the capture of San Francisco and Los Angeles the Stars and 
Stripes supplanted the Bear Flag. During the same summer 
New Mexico was invaded by an expedition from Fort Leaven- 
worth (Kansas), under the command of General Stephen W. 
Kearney, who captured Santa Fe. Thus New Mexico came 
under American control. 

Monterey and Buena Vista. In the autumn of 1846 General 
Taylor mox'ed from Matamoras toward IMonterey. a strongly 
fortified town. After three days of hard and stubborn fight- 
ing the town was captured on the twenty-third of September. 
In November General Winfield Scott, the ranking officer of the 
United States army, was placed in chief command in Mexico, 



2g6 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



and in January General Taylor's force was reduced to five thou- 
sand in order to recruit Scott's army which had been sent by 
sea to take Vera Cruz.^ General Santa Anna, w.ith about three 
times as many men, attacked General Taylor at Buena Vista, 
February 23, 1847.^ The American troops for the most part 
were volunteers, but they had been drilled by their officers with 




BATTLE UF BUENA VISTA 



such skill that Taylor won a complete victory.^ Northern 
Mexico thus fell into the hands of the Americans. 

March to the City of Mexico. More than one hundred and 
fifty vessels bore General Scott's army to Vera Cruz, which 

1 Winfield Scott was born in Virginia in 1786. He entered the army 
when he was twenty-two, and served with such distinction during the 
War of 1812 that he was made major-general in 1814, and jie became 
commander-in-chief of the United States army in 1841. His brilHant cam- 
paign in Mexico added luster to his name. General Scott was very punc- 
tilious, and was sometimes called " Old Fuss and Feathers." He was 
defeated for the Presidency in 1852. He retired from the army in 1861, 
and died in 1866. 

- See Whittier's poem, The Angels of Buena Vista, also Theodore 
O'Hara's Bivouac of the Dead. 

3 Colonel Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was serving under Taylor, and 
distinguished himself by his gallant conduct in this campaign. 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 



2^7 



was taken by siege in March, 1847. Scott landed his troops 
and immediately started on the march to the Mexican capital, 




two hundred miles away 
and over seven thousand feet 
above the level of the sea. 
Santa Anna, in a battle 
which took place at the nar- 
row pass of Cerro Gordo, 
endeavored to check his ad- 
vance, but General Scott 
won a complete victory, cap- 
turing five Mexican generals 
and three thousand prison- 
ers.^ The victorious army 
continued the march inland 
and captured stronghold 
after stronghold. At last 
the American troops came 

upon the capital, nestling in a beautiful mountain valley 
surrounded by high peaks. The fortresses guarding the city 
were taken one by one and at last on the morning of September 

^ General Scott captured Santa Anna's carriage, containing a large 
amount of gold, his papers, and his wooden leg, and the haughty " Napo- 
leon of the West" narrowly escaped capture himself by fleeing, astride 
a mule, from the field. 



ROUTES OF UNITED STATES TROOPS IN 
THE WAR WITH MEXICO 



288 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

14, 1847, Scott's army marched into the city of ^Mexico and 
soon the Stars and Stripes supplanted the Alexican Eagle over 
the city of the ^Montezumas.^ In a little more than six months' 
time. General Scott's army had marched through a hostile 
coimtr}', lighting against an enemy of superior numbers, and 
capturing fortified towns, but the march was a steady success- 
sion of victories. The Mexicans fought with determined 
bravery, but they could not resist the pluck and daring of the 
Americans. - 

Peace of Guadalupe Hidalgo. ^Mexico and iJie United 
States entered upon a treaty of peace which was executed at 
Guadalupe Hidalgo on the second of February, 1848. Mexico 
recognized the Rio Grande as the southwest boundary of Texas 
and ceded to us New ^lexico and California, a vast territory 
greater than the entire area of the United States in 1783, with 
a magnificent Pacific harbor, the gateway to the Orient. We 
paid }^Iexico fifteen million dollars for this vast territory and 
we agreed to assume her debt of three million dollars to 
American citizens. Our southern boundary was now complete 
from sea to sea.^ 

Wilmot Proviso. The ^lissouri Compromise dividing slave 
and free territory ran only to the western boundary of the 
Louisiana purchase ; consequently the Mexican cession revived 
the question of slavery in the territories. Should slave states 

1 The Montezumas were the Aztec chiefs who had ruled ]\Iexico before 
Cortez conquered the countrj' in 1519-21. 

- Captain Robert E. Lee. of Virginia, served under Scott in this cam- 
paign. In after j-ears General Scott was heard to say that his success 
in 2\lexico was due largely to the skill and daring of Lee. He went so 
far as to say that he was the best soldier he had ever seen on the field. 
Ulysses S. Grant had been with General Taylor at the_ battles of Palo 
Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and also at the capture of Monterey. He 
also was with Scott on the famous march to the Cir\- of ^lexico, and for 
his gallant conduct was made first lieutenant and then captain. 

3 In 1S53. five years after the peace with Mexico, the L'nited States 
purchased forty-five thousand square miles in the Gila River valley for 
ten million dollars. The purchase was arranged by Captain James Gads- 
den, of South Carolina, minister to Mexico, and is known as the Gadsden 
Purchase. In ]\Iarch of the same year. Congress ordered an exploration 
at public expense, to ascertain the best route for a railroad to the Pacific 
ocean. 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 289 

be erected beyond the mountains along the Pacific, or should 
the southern man be denied the right to migrate with his 
slaves into the new land ? It was the fear that the acquisition 
of territory to the South and \\'est would add power to the 
South that had caused opposition in the North to the annexa- 
tion of Texas and to the Mexican war. ^^'hile the war was 
in progress David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania Democrat, intro- 
duced into Congress what is known as the W^ilmot Proviso, 
the purpose of which was to exclude slaveiy from the IMexican 
cessions. The proviso never became a law and the new terri- 
tory was acquired without any express condition concerning 
slavery. However, the \\'ilmot bill produced bitter strife in 
Congress and served to intensify sectional antagonisms. 

Facing the Pacific. The IMexican cession brought up the 
question of the control of the routes across the narrow regions 
of America in order to shorten the distance between the two 
oceans. The journey overland to California required from 
three to eight months, around Cape Horn from three to four 
months, and both were fraught with many dangers. There 
were tAvo practicable short routes, one across the Isthmus of 
Panama, the other through the lake of Nicaragua. In 1846 
we made a treaty with the United States of Colombia guaran- 
teeing us the use of a canal across the isthmus; in 1850 we 
made an agreement with England, who claimed a protectorate 
over some of the Central American lands, by which we secured 
a common use and neutral control of the Nicaraguan route. 
This agreement was known as the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. 

Our acquisition of Pacific territory also gave us ports for 
direct trade with the Far East. Already, in 1844, the United 
States had secured a desirable commercial treaty with China 
by which five ports were opened to our trade. In 1852 Com- 
modore IMatthew C. Perry was sent with a squadron of war- 
ships on a special mission to Japan to induce that countrs- to 
enter into diplomatic and commercial relations with the United 
States. In 1853 the fleet reached Japan and, although there 
was much opposition to the foreigners. Perry with quiet per- 



290 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR' COUNTRY 

sistence remained in the harbor of Tokyo until some attention 
was paid to the demands of his government. At last Japan 
consented to a treaty by which friendly intercourse was estab- 
lished between the two countries and the Japanese ports were 
thrown open to trade. ^ 

Election of 1848. After the close of the Mexican War the 
interests of the people centered in the presidential election. 
The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan for the 
Presidency. The Whigs were long in doubt about their can- 
didate. Should they put forth Clay again — "the same old 
coon " the Democrats called him — or should they adopt again 
the plan that had been so successful in 1840, namely, running 
a soldier candidate? They now had two to choose from, for 
both Scott and Taylor were Whigs. The party at last chose 
General Zachary Taylor, " Old Rough and Ready," as the 
soldiers called him. 

Free Soilers. A new party came into existence at this time 
known as the Free Soilers, composed of fomier Whigs and 
Democrats who supported the Wilmot Proviso. This party 
nominated Van Buren, and while it polled but few votes it 
cost the Democrats the election.^ Taylor was elected Presi- 
dent, and Millard Fillmore of New York Vice-president. 
After the election Congress again gave its attention to the 
burning question of organizing the new territories. 

Discovery of Gold in California. The new territory did not 
wait on the politicians. Hardly had peace been concluded 
with Mexico before gold was discovered in California. 
While a sawmill and a mill dam were being constructed at 
Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento River, some shining particles 
that proved to be gold were found in the sand. Soon there 
was developed such a wealth of the glittering yellow metal 
that California proved to be a veritable land of Midas. No 
such mines were ever known before. People began to flock 

1 Perry's flagship, the Mississippi, was the first United States steam 
war vessel to circumnavigate the globe. 

- The Free-Soil Democrats were derisively called " Barnburners," be- 
cause, it was said, they were willing to destroy the Union to get rid of 
slavery, like the Dutchman who burned his barn to get rid of the rats. 




TERRITORY ACQUIRED BY THE UNITED STATES 
BETWEEN 1789 AND 1853 



ANOTHER PERIOD OF EXPANSION 291 

to California, the golden West, from all parts of the world. 
Long caravans of " Forty-niners " ^ trailed across the plains 
and over the great divide ; some went by the way of the Isthmus 
of Panama and sailed up the Pacific coast to the " Golden 
Gate " ; others went around Cape Horn, doubling the con- 
tinents in their search for gold. By 1850 there were upwards 
of one hundred thousand settlers in the country and California 
was applying for admission as a free state, almost before the 
lawmakers were ready to organize her as a territory. 

Other mineral wealth was soon discovered in the Mexican 
cession, and in other parts of the United States as well. In 
1858 gold mines were discovered at Pikes Peak, Colorado, and 
silver mines at Virginia City, Nevada. These were the first 
silver mines in the United States ; since that time the West 
has produced most of the world's silver. Coal-bearing strata 
were found in various parts of the United States and within 
a decade rich underground oil streams were being worked in 
Pennsylvania, 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. How far back in the history does the controversy over the Maine 
boundary date? 2. Why was the campaign cry of 1844 the " reannexation " 
of Texas? 3. Who gained more territory in the compromise of 1846, 
Great Britain or the United States? 4. What had checked the movement 
of the South to free the slaves? 5. Why was the Mexican War unpopular 
in New England? 6. What famous author wrote papers satirizing it? 
7. What is meant by our "manifest destiny"? 8. Was the Mexican War 
a war of conquest? 

SOURCE MATERIAL 

General References: Scmplc, Geographic Conditions ; Statistical At- 
las of the United States; Wilson, Division and Reunion; Turner, Rise of 
the New West; McDonald, Jacksonian Democracy; Hart, Slavery and 
Abolition; Garrison, Westward Extension and Texas; McMaster, United 
States, IV; Adams, United States, IX; Brown, Lozver South; Page, Old 

1 So called because the migration occurred in 1849. 



292 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

South: Rhodes, The I'nifcd States, I & II; Sparks^ Expansion; Johnston. 
American Orations and Ameriean Politics; Peck. Jacksonian Epoch; 
Houston, A Study of XuUification in South Carolina; Taussig, Taritr His- 
tory of the United States; Benton, Thirty Years' J'iexc: Johnston, .^Iwc-r- 
icon Transportation; Bancroft, United States: Tyler, Life and Times of 
the Tylers; H. H. Bancroft, Paeiiic States; Biographies of Jackson, Web- 
ster, Clav. Calhoun, etc. 



SofRCES AXD Other Readings : E. K Hale, Stc<ries of Inzvntions; 
David Hunter Strother, J'irginia Hospitality: Gildersleeve, The Creed of 
the Old South; T. B. Aldrich, Story of a Bad Boy; Joel Chandler Harris. 
Georgia Stories and Uncle Remus Stories; Irwin Russell, Christmas Xight 
in the Quarters; Howard Weeden, Bandana Ballads and Somi/j of the Old 
South; Kirk Munroe, ff"{//i Crockett and Bowie; C A. Davis, Letters of 
J. Doiitiing; David Crockett, The Bear Hunt; Travis, Appeal to the 
People of Texas and all Americans in the World; Miller. Defense of the 
Alamo; Munroe, Golden Days of '40; Pike, Bucna J'ista; Hall, Half 
Hours in Southern History; Harte, Luck of Roaring Camp; Guerber, 
Story of the Great Republic; Hubert, Inventors; Hart, Source Readers, 
III & IV: Smith. The Old Time Shrc; Patten, The Seminole's Reply. 



PiCTVRES : Clark Mills. Jackson (statue^ : T. A. Oertel, A Ji'inter Home 
in I'irginia; \\\ L. Taylor, Mammy or Those Days in Old I'irginia and 
The District School; Henry. Trazel in the South in the Thirties. 



PERIOD VI.— ERA OF STRIFE 
1850-1870 

CHAPTER XX 

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 

Zachary Taylor. President, 1S49-1S50 
Millard Fillmore. \'ice-president. 1849-1S50 
Millard Fillmore. President. 1S50-1S53 
Franklin Pierce. President. 1853-1857 
William R. King. \'ice-president. 1853 

— (Deceased April. 1853.) 
James Buchanan. President. 1857-1861 
John C. Breckinridge. \'ice-president. 1857-1861 

Sectional Hostility. The Mexican War brought upon Pres- 
ident Taylor and tlie ^^ hig party the luifinished work of or- 
g^anizing the new territory.^ Intense sectional hostility imme- 
diately developed. The Xorth had opposed the addition of 
the new territory because she feared it would be settled by 
southern people and tliat it would make the South too pow- 
erful. The South, on the other hand, had rejoiced in the ful- 
fillment of our " manifest destiny "' and the extension of our 
boundaries from sea to sea. and she had also rejoiced at the 
prospect of new states of southern s\-mpathies and southern 
institutions, which would enable her to maintain in Congress 
her balance of power. The important issue was whether the 
territories to be organized out of the Mexican cession should 

^ General Zachan,- Taylor, twelfth President of the United States, was 
K"»rn in Virginia, in 1784. He served in the War of 1S12, and in the 
Black Hawk War of 1S32. In the second war against the Seminoles 
in Florida, he was made commander of the United States army. At the 
beginning of the trouble with Mexico. Taylor was made major-general, 
and was ordered to the disputed territon.' in Texas. His series of vic- 
tories in the Mexican War made him a popular hero. Until his election 
to the Presidency he had never held a civil office. H? died at Washington, 
July 9, 185a 



294 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



permit slavery. The territorial side of the slavery ques- 
tion had been adjusted by the ^lissouri Compromise of 1820, 
but it was now disturbed by the acquisiti.on of new terri- 
tory, and moreover the constant agitation of the abolitionists 
had developed intense sectional feeling. William Lloyd Gar- 
rison's Liberator con- 
tinued to be circu- 
lated and its inflam- 
matory utterances 
tended to stir up 
strife. Southern 
men were indignant 
at its misrepresenta- 
t i o n s and were 
alarmed lest it should 
» provoke insurrection 
among the slaves. 

While the war with 
Mexico was in prog- 
ress there had been 
proposed the Wilmot 
Proviso, forever for- 
bidding slavery in the 
new territory. The 
measure had failed, 
but the question was now precipitated anew. The Missouri 
Compromise line, thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of 
north latitude, extended only to the mountains on the western 
boundarv of the Louisiatia purchase. The South was desir- 
ous that this line be extended to the Pacific in order that her 
citizens might be free to move into the new territory. The 
southern leaders maintained, however, that every American 
citizen should have the right to take his slaves with him into 
the territories, that the scattering of the slaves over a greater 
area would be best for both races, and would not delay the 
ultimate abolition of slaverv. 




ZACHARV TAYLOR 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 295 

Admission of California; Other Differences. A new ele- 
ment was introduced into the political situation by the fact 
that California had been settled more rapidly than was antici- 
pated and was now asking- for statehood under a constitution 
excluding slavery. The South perceived that the admission 
of California as a free-soil state would place her in the mi- 
nority in tlie Union, which then consisted of thirty states, of 
which fifteen were slaveholding and fifteen were non-slave- 
holding-. The North had the majority in the House of Repre- 
sentatives and favored the admission of California which 
would give her the majority in the Senate, also. 

Besides the admission of California and the question of 
slavery in the territories, there were other causes of differ- 
ence between the two sections. The fugitive slave law, for 
which provision was made in the Constitution and which had 
been a statute since 17Q3. had become of no effect in the 
northern states because the people refused to enforce it 
against run-away slaves. The South demanded the en- 
forcement of this law, but the abolitionists throughout the 
North openly defied it and at the same time they began an agi- 
tation for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. 

About the same time Texas was involved in a boundar}- dis- 
pute that in some degree hinged upon the question of the ex- 
pansion of slaxery.^ 

Strife in Congress. Such were the problems facing Presi- 
dent Taylor when Congress assembled in December, 1849. 
The three great statesmen of the second generation. Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster, old and almost ready to pass beyond 
the sphere of human activities, appeared in the Senate for the 
last time and labored earnestly for the adjustment of the com- 
plex problems which embittered the sections and threatened 
the Union. Clay, true to his character as the " Great Pacifi- 

1 WHiile these issues were pending a convention of the southern states 
was called to meet at Nashville, Tenn., to consider the question of separa- 
tion. The Virginia legislature voted for "" determined resistance at all 
hazards." Robert Toombs, of Georgia, proclaimed in Congress that the 
policy of the government was forcing the South into disunion. 



296 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

cator," endeavored to settle the points in dispute by several 
measures combined into one which received the name of the 
" Omnibus Bill." For more than eight months Congress dis- 
cussed these measures in a passion of bitterness. Clay pleaded 
for his compromise with all the force of his great eloquence.^ 

Calhoun was sick unto death but he urged acceptance of 
the compromise measures. He believed that the South had 
been misrepresented and that her rights had been trampled 
upon. He showed how one tie after another binding the sec- 
tions together had been broken and that soon there would be 
none remaining.^ Solemnly, almost as a voice from the grave, 
came his declaration that the maintenance of the Union de- 
pended upon the preservation of a perfect equilibrium between 
the sections ; the South must have sufficient power in the gov- 
ernment to protect her institutions from any danger.^ 

On Thursday after Calhoun's speech — that is, the seventh 
of March, 1850 — New England's great son, Daniel Webster, 

^ Henry Clay was born in Virginia, in 1777. In 1797 he removed to 
Kentucky. This state he represented many times in both houses of Con- 
gress. He first came into prominent pubHc notice as Speaker of the 
House at the beginning of the War of 1812. From that time until his death 
his life was closely identified with the history of his country. He often 
used his great powers of persuasion to pacify angry dissension between 
the sections. Few men of our history had greater power over his fol- 
lowers ; he was " Our Harry," and the " Mill Boy of the Slashes," to 
them all. He died at Washington in 1852. 

" " The cords that bind the states together are not only many, but various 
in character. Among them, some are spiritual or ecclesiastical ; some 
political, others social ; others appertain to the benefits conferred by the 
Union ; and others to the feeling of duty and obligation." — Calhoun. 

3 John C. Calhoun was born in South Carolina, in 1782. He was grad- 
uated from Yale College in 1804, and in 181 1 became a member of Con- 
gress from his native state. He served in the Senate sixteen years in 
all, was Secretary of War under Monroe, Vice-president, 1825-1832, and 
Secretary of State under John Tyler. He was one of the southern lead- 
ers and one of the most forceful debaters that ever sat in the Amer- 
ican Congress. Calhoun was a champion of states rights, and he be- 
lieved that the permanence of the Union depended upon adherence to 
the original purpose of the Constitution. He was held in almost wor- 
shipful admiration by the whole South, and his lofty intellect and irre- 
proachable character won the respect of his enemies. At the time of 
the great debates over the compromises of 1850, the hand of death was 
upon him. He had to be led into the Senate chamber and a friend read 
his speech while he sat by as pale as a corpse. Calhoun died at Washing- 
ton, March 31, 1850. 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 297 

spoke in behalf of the Clay compromises. He declared that 
the agitation of the abolitionists had given the South just 
cause for complaint and he urged the cultivation of a kindlier 
feeling between the sections.^ 

The younger statesmen of the third generation also took 
part in this debate. Notable among these were Jefferson 
Davis of Mississippi, and William H. Seward of New York. 
The former held positive and aggressive southern views while 
the latter, openly disregarding the Constitution, earnestly sup- 
ported the anti-slavery cause. 

Death of Taylor; Compromise of 1850. By September, 
1850, the several measures proposed by Clay had been passed 
and received executive approval, but they were approved not 
by President Taylor, but by President Fillmore.^ On July 9, 
1850, General Taylor succumbed to typhoid fever and a sor- 
rowing company bore the hero of so many battles to his final 
resting place.^ 

Congress did not combine the Clay measures into one bill, 
but passed them in several acts. They are, however, usually 
grouped together as the " Compromise of 1850 " and in final 
form they comprised the following provisions : First, Cali- 

1 Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire, in 1782; served as a 
member of Congress from New Hampshire; afterwards moved to Boston 
and for many years was senator from the state of Massachusetts. He 
became famous as a debater and an orator; his orations on Bunker Hill, 
and on Adams and Jefferson, and his reply to Hayne rank among the 
greatest of American orations. Webster became one of the chief leaders 
of the Whig party, and was Secretary of State under Harrison, Tyler, 
and Fillmore. His " seventh of March " speech in 1850, in which he so 
warmly advocated Clay's compromises and urged a conservative policy on 
the slavery question, alienated many of his followers in the North, par- 
ticularly the abolitionists. He died on October 24, 1852. 

- Millard Fillmore was born in New York, in 1800. His early life was 
spent in poverty. In 1823, in his native state, he was admitted to the 
bar and he soon won a reputation as a lawyer; he held several state 
offices and represented his state in Congress. In 1848, he was nominated 
and elected as Vice-president on the Whig ticket, and upon Taylor's death 
he became President. In 1856, he was candidate for the Presidency as 
the nominee of the American Party, but was defeated. He died at Buffalo, 
New York, in 1874. 

^ At General Taylor's funeral in Washington, his horse " Old Whitey," 
bearing an empty saddle, was led behind the casket. General Taylor had 
ridden " Old Whitey " through the Mexican War, 



298 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



f ornia was to be admitted as a free state ; second, the remainder 
of the Mexican cession was to be organized into territories 
with the right to decide for themselves, when ready for state- 
hood, whether they should permit or exclude slavery ; third, 
Texas was paid ten million dollars for relinquishing her claim 
to New Mexico; fourth, the slave trade was abolished in the 
District of Columbia ; fifth, a new fugitive slave law was passed 
and United States officers were held responsible for the return 
of run-away slaves. This compromise was to be accepted 
as a final solemn compact of peace between the sections. 




SLAVE AND FREE TEKRITORV AFTER THE COMPROMISE OF 185O 



- Fugitive Slave Law and Personal Liberty Laws. Despite 
the compromise, bitterness between the sections continued to 
increase. In the North the operation of the fugitive slave 
law Avas resisted and in many public meetings it was declared 
that such a law justified dissolution of the Union. Fourteen 
northern states passed " personal liberty laws," which in 
effect nullified the fugitive slave law. Attempts to enforce 
the law in many of the northern states in which slaves had 
taken refuge caused bloody riots. The abolitionists estab- 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 299 

lished routes for runaway slaves known as " underground 
railways," which were a series of friendly homes, distant apart 
about a night's journey, in which slaves were concealed and 
hurried from one to another until they reached Canada.^ 

A great force in shaping public opinion in the North was 
Uncle Tom's Cabin, a story by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which 
greatly exaggerated the conditions of slave life, but it was 
accepted in the North as a true picture. It had an enormous 
circulation. 

Election of 1852. In the presidential election of 1852 the 
Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire 
for President.^ The Whigs again nominated a military hero, 

1 In a speech at Capon Springs, Virginia, in 1851, Daniel Webster said: 
" How absurd it is to suppose that when different parties enter into a 
compact for certain purposes, either can disregard any one provision, 
and expect, nevertheless, the other to observe the rest ! I intend, for 
one, to regard, and maintain, and carry out, to the fullest extent, the 
Constitution of the United States, which I have sworn to support in all 
its parts and all its provisions. It is written in the Constitution : No 
person held to service or labor in one state, under the lazvs thereof, escap- 
ing into another shall in consequence of any lazu or regulation therein, be 
discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered upon the 
claim of the party to whom such service or labor is due. 

" That is as much a part of the Constitution as any other, and as equally 
binding and obligatory as any other on all men, public and private. And 
who denies this? None but the abolitionists of the North. And pray 
what is it they will not deny? They have but one idea and it would 
seem that these fanatics at the North and the secessionists at the South 
are putting their heads together to derive the means to defeat the good 
designs of honest and patriotic men. They act to the same end and the 
same object and the Constitution has to take the fire from both sides. 
I have not hesitated to say, and I repeat, that if the northern states 
refuse, zmllfully and deliberately, to carry into effect that part of the Con- 
stitution which respects the restoration of fugitive slaves, and Congress 
provides no remedy, the South would no longer be bound to observe 
the compact. A bargain cannot be broken on one side and still bind the 
other side. I say to you, gentlemen, in Virginia, as I said on the shores 
of Lake Erie and in the city of Boston, as I may say again in that city 
or elsewhere in the North, that you of the South have as much right 
to receive your fugitive slaves as the North has to any of its rights and 
privileges of navigation or commerce." Read Whittier's poem, Ichabod. 

- Franklin Pierce was born in New Hampshire, in 1804. He was a 
student at Bowdoin College with Hawthorne and Longfellow. He repre- 
sented his state in both houses of Congress from 1833 to 1847. In the 
Mexican War he displayed bravery and skill, and was raised to the rank 
of brigadier-general. He died in 1869. Pierce's cabinet was the only 
one in our history in which there was no change. 



300 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

General Winfield Scott. Both parties in their platforms 
expressed their willingness to stand by the Compromise of 
1850. The Democrats were successful; Pierce became Presi- 
dent and William R. King of Alabama Vice-president.^ 

Kansas and Nebraska Bill, 1854. About a year after 
the inauguration of President Pierce, Stephen A. Douglas of 
Illinois introduced into Congress a bill providing for the 
organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska as a 
part of the Louisiana purchase.^ The direct overland route 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific crossed this region and many 
of the pioneers who had started for the California gold fields 
in 1849 had stopped on the way and opened farms on the 
great plains of the Platte country. Douglas reasoned that 
the Compromise of 1850 had virtually rendered null and 
void the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which divided the Loui- 
siana purchase into slave and non-slave territory, and he 
claimed that territories could be erected in this region on the 
principle of popular or " squatter sovereignty." This term 
meant that the people of the territory would have the right to 
decide for themselves whether or not they would permit slav- 
ery. Douglas contended that Congress had not the right to in- 
terfere in the matter of slavery in the territories as it was the 
people's right to regulate their own domestic concerns. 

Congress was again the scene of stormy and protracted de- 
bate. Those who were fighting slavery condemned the bill as 
a violation of the Missouri Compromise and contended that the 
Compromise of 1850 applied only to the Mexican cession. 
The southern leaders supported the measure because the 

1 William R. King had gone to Cuba for his health, and while in Havana, 
was sworn into office as Vice-president. He died on April 18, 1853, at 
his Alabama home. 

- Stephen A. Douglas was born in Vermont, in 1813. After a youth 
of hardship he moved, in 1833, to Illinois, where he taught school and 
studied law. He served in the legislature and on the bench of his adopted 
state. From 1843 to 1861 he was in Congress, being a member of the 
Senate for fourteen years. Douglas was small of stature, but a man of 
attractive bearing, and the name of " Little Giant " was bestowed upon 
him by his admirers because of his fervor and power in debate. He died 
in 1861. 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS '301 

erection of Kansas into a slave state would restore the bal- 
ance between the sections which had been disturbed by the 
admission of California as a non-slavery state. Douglas ably 
defended his bill and in May, 1854, it became a law. 

It created two new territories in the Platte country, Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, and it expressly repealed that part of the 
Missouri Compromise which declared the territory north of 
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes to be free. The right 
to decide upon slavery in the territories was thus left with the 
settlers themselves. Unfortunately, however, the bill did not 
specify the time at which popular sovereignty was to be exer- 
cised. Northern men interpreted it to mean that the people of 
a territory could at any time decide upon the question of slav- 
ery, while southern men believed that this could be done only 
when the territory applied for admission as a state. The 
latter argued that until it became a state, the territory was the 
common property of all the states and the people of any state 
could emigrate to it, taking their property with them. Thus, 
instead of settling the controversy, the new law sowed the 
seeds of future discord. 

Struggle for Kansas. Hardly was the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill passed before there began a struggle between the North 
and the South for the possession of Kansas. The section 
that gained control of the new territory would determine 
whether it should become a slave state or a free state. Emi- 
grant Aid societies were formed in New England, composed 
in large part of abolitionists, for the purpose of colonizing 
Kansas, and in July, 1854, a body of Massachusetts emigrants 
set out for the territory. By the end of the year there were 
several thousand " Sons of Freedom " in Kansas. Southern 
settlers, too, came into the region, pouring over the border 
from Missouri. The factions settled in different parts of the 
territory. The New England emigrants went with arms and 
the Missourians, whom the abolitionists called " border ruf- 
fians," had guns and knew how to use them. Each faction or- 
ganized its own legislature, drew up a constitution, and peti- 



302 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

tioned Congress for admission to the Union as a state. One 
faction excluded slavery from the territory, the other per- 
mitted it. 

Soon the settlers came to blows; riot, massacre, and arson 
were the order of the day. Chief among the abolitionists 
was John Brown, who with his sons committed many deeds 
of violence. The southern leaders, on the other hand, at- 
tacked the town of Lawrence, and a newspaper office and a 
hotel were destroyed. In revenge, John Brown with a few 
followers attacked and killed five pro-slavery leaders residing 
on Pottawatomie Creek. Every man for his own protection 
was compelled to be armed even if he did not desire to partici- 
pate in the conflict. The legislature of the pro-slavery set- 
tlers was recogiiized by the President as the legal body, but 
the non-slavery leaders declared that this body was elected 
by fraudulent votes of the Missourians who came across the 
border to vote and then returned home. Finally. United States 
troops had to be sent to restore order to '* Bleeding Kansas," 
but the trouble continued and it was not until 1861 that Kansas 
was admitted into the Union. It was admitted as a free state. 

Formation of New Parties. The opponents of the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act in 1S54 united and fomied a new political party 
known at first as the Anti-Xebraska men.^ The party grew in 
numbers and became a vast fusion orgnnization of all the ele- 
ments opposed to slavery. It was made up of Northern 
Whigs. Northern Democrats. Free Soilers, Abolitionists, and 
Anti-Nebraska men, who took the name of Republicans. 
This party was anti-slavery and sectional. Heretofore the 
great political parties had their following throughout the whole 
country, and in practically every presidential election before 
i860 we find all candidates receiving support in both northern 
and southern states, but the Republican party in 185O and in 
i860 could expect no support from the South. Another party 
sprang up at this time, the American or Know-nothing party. 

^ The \\liig party, having split on the Wilmot Proviso and the Compro- 
mise of 1850. soon after the election of 185J practically ceased to e.xist. 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 303 

whose chief object was to oppose the growing power of for- 
eigners and to vote only for Americans. On the slavery ques- 
tion it took no stand. Its rallying cry was " America for 
Americans " and it grew in strength from 1852 to 1854.^ 

Presidential Election of 1856. In tlie presidential election 
of 1S50 the contest was between the new Republican party 
and the Democratic party, although the other parties had 
candidates in the field. The Republicans chose both their 
candidates from ant isla very states, John C. Fremont of Cali- 
fornia for President and William L. Dayton of New Jersey 
for \'ice-president. Denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act 
and declaring that Congress had no right to permit slaves to 
go into any territon;, this party demanded the prompt ad- 
mission of Kansas as a free state.- The Democrats, on the 
other hand, endorsed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and named 
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania for the Presidency and 
John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for the Mce-presidency. 
The American party, for President nominated fomier Presi- 
dent Fillmore and for \'ice-president Andrew J. Donelson 
of Tennessee. The Democrats won in the election but 
the Republicans carried nearly every northern state. The 
sectional issue had become the dominant force in American 
politics. 

The Dred Scott Decision. Just three days after President 
Buchanan was inaugurated the Supreme Court of the United 
States rendered a decision which provoked the radicals of 
the North to denounce the highest tribunal of the land. This 
was the famous Dred Scott decision. Dred Scott was a 
Missouri slave belonging to Doctor Emerson, an army surgeon. 
He had been taken by his master into the free state of Illinois 
and into the territory that later became the state oi Minne- 

1 At first this was a secret organization derisively called the " Know- 
nothings." because members, when asked what they stood for, answered, 
'■ I do not know." In the early fifties the Know-nothings carried several 
state elections. 

- It must be remembered that Kansas did not come into the Union 
until 1861. 



304 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

sota. After Doctor Emerson returned to Missouri he sold the 
negro to a Mr. Sanford, and Scott brought suit against his 
new owner for his freedom on the ground that residence in 
a free state and territory had made him a free man. Scott's 
claim was denied in the lower court and the case was ap- 
pealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. This 
court, consisting of nine justices, declared that the negro, 
whether free or slave, was not a citizen of a state, nor of 
the United States and, therefore, could not bring suit in the 
United States court. ^ According to the opinion of the court 
the case involved the constitutionality of the Missouri Com- 
promise and the court held further that the territories were 
the common property of all the states; that a citizen of any 
state had the right to emigrate into them and carry and hold 
his slaves as any other property; that Congress had no right 
whatever to place any restriction on slavery in the territories. 
This decision upheld in all respects the theory of southern 
statesmen on the question of slavery and condemned the doc- 
trines of the new Republican party. 

Mormon Uprising. Another important event in the year 
1857 was a Mormon uprising. The Mormons, a queer re- 
ligious sect founded by Joseph Smith, had been compelled by 
public opinion to move steadily westward. Finally, in 1847, 
the whole body of Mormons went across tlje great plains to 
Great Salt Lake and founded Salt Lake City. This country 
belonged to Mexico at the time, but by the Peace of Guada- 
lupe Hidalgo in 1848, it passed to the United States and in 
1850 it was erected into the territory of Utah. The Mor- 
mons resisted the authority of the United States officials and 
drove them from the territory. In 1857 President Buchanan 
sent forces, under General Albert Sidney Johnston, to quell 
the disturbances and order was restored in Utah. 

Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858. But the Mormon uprising 
did not divert public attention from the slavery question. This 

^ The negro then, like the untaxed Indian on reservations to-day, was not 
considered a citizen. 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 305 

was acutely presented in the contest of Stephen A. Douglas, the 
Democratic candidate for reelection to the United States Sen- 
ate from Illinois. He was opposed by Abraham Lincoln, the 
Republican candidate, a man of strong mind, skilled in per- 
suasion, and possessed of a fund of homely humor. Lincoln 
had already served several terms in the Illinois legislature 
and had been in the lower House of Congress where he 
opposed the Mexican War and supported the Wilmot Proviso. 
In the opening speech of his campaign he used these famous 
words: "A house divided -against itself cannot stand. I 
believe that this government cannot endure permanently half 
slave and half free. I do not expect the house to fall,* but 
I expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one 
or all the other." In the summer of 1858 Lincoln challenged 
Douglas to a series of debates, and they arranged for seven 
meetings in different parts of Illinois, the main issue being the 
slavery question.^ 

Douglas held to the view of popular sovereignty which he 
had advanced in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, that is, 
that the people of a territory, under a territorial government, 
had the right to decide for themselves concerning the insti- 
tution of slavery. Lincoln advocated the Republican doctrine' 
that Congress should restrict slavery in the territories. The 
debates attracted many thousands of people in the state of 
Illinois and the reports of the discussion were read throughout 
the country. Douglas was elected to the Senate; but Lincoln 
attracted wide-spread attention and had fairly won a place 
of leadership in the Republican party. 

John Brown's Raid, 1859. In the latter part of 1859 a sinis- 
ter event occurred which sent a thrill of horror throughout the 
entire South. John Brown, who was already notorious for 
his deeds of violence in Kansas, had collected arms near 
Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His purpose was to free the slaves 
by leading them against the white people of the South in the 

^ United States senators arc not elected by the direct vote of the people 
but by the state legislatures. The purpose of the Lincoln-Douglas debates 
was to influence the people one way or the other in their choice of mem- 
bers of the legislature who would elect the senator. 



■306 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



belief that this was the only method by which the freeing of 
the negroes could be accomplished. On the night of October 
16, at the head of eighteen of his followers, five of whom 
were negroes, Brown seized the United States arsenal at 
Harper's Ferry. He expected the negroes to flock to him 
and had arms for a thousand men, but the slaves refused to 
revolt and soon the raiders were surrounded by a force of 
militia and armed citizens. Lieutenant-colonel Robert E. 

Lee, with a company 
of United States 
marines, arrived on 
October 18, and 
Bro\Mi and a num- 
ber of his band were 
captured, though 
they fought with 
desperate courage. 
They were tried in 
the Virginia courts 
on the charge of 
treason, murder, and 
inciting the slaves to 
rebellion. Brown and six of his companions were convicted 
and hanged. On investigation it was found that Brown had 
obtained arms and money in the North and there was wide- 
spread belief in the South that the Republican leaders were 
responsible for the movement which was intended to provoke 
a general uprising of the slaves. The Southerners began to 
believe that the abolitionists would stop at nothing to destroy 
slavery and that united resistance was necessary to prevent 
interference with domestic affairs in the states. The convic- 
tion grew that there must be security within the LTnion or 
separation would be necessary. In some parts of the North 
John Brown's deeds were praised and he was hailed as a hero 
and a martyr. 

Presidential Election of i860. While the affair at Har- 





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HARPER S FERRY, — BEFORE THE BUILDING OF THE 
RAILROADS AND BRIDGES 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 30? 

per's Ferry was vividly in the public mind, the presidential elec- 
tion of i860 came on and it proved to be the " parting- of the 
ways " between the North and the South. There were four 
sets of candidates in the field. When the Democrats held 
their convention at Charleston, South Carolina, the northern 
Democrats refused to endorse the Dred Scott decision and 
the southern members of the convention withdrew. The 
great party at last was hopelessly divided into factions. The 
Northern wing nominated Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for 
President and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia for Vice-presi- 
dent. The Southern Democrats met at Baltimore and chose 
John C, Breckinridge of Kentucky and Joseph H. Lane of 
Oregon. The Republicans held their convention in Chicago, 
which was then a growing Western city, and named Abraham 
Lincoln of Illinois for first place on the ticket and Hannibal 
Hamlin of Maine for second. Another party calling itself 
the Constitutional Union party, having for its platform 
" No political principle other than the Constitution of the coun- 
try, the union of the states and the enforcement of the laws," 
named John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of Massa- 
chusetts. Lincoln and Hamlin were elected. They received 
hardly more than one-third of the popular vote, though they 
had received one hundred and eighty electoral votes, while 
Breckinridge had received seventy-two. Bell thirty-nine, and 
Douglas twelve. The South looked upon Lincoln's election 
as the beginning of the end. The Republican party had de- 
nounced the Dred Scott decision and the President-elect had 
.declared that the Union could not continue half slave and 
half free. Immediately the southern states began to prepare 
for secession as the only means of preserving their domestic 
institutions and their rights as states under the Constitution 
as interpreted by the highest court of the land. Thirty-three 
states participated in the presidential election of i860. Since 
the admission of California, two other states had come into the 
Union: Minnesota in 1858, and Oregon in 1859. 



3o8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. What happened to make it necessary to decide at once the question of 
slavery in the new territory? 2. Why did Webster favor the Compromise 
of 1850? 3. How did the Texas boundary question hinge upon the ques- 
tion of slavery? 4. With regard to what constitutional provision had the 
North failed to keep the contract between the states? 5. How many states 
in all have nullified or threatened to nullify federal laws? 6. How was 
Lincoln a sectional and a minority president? 



CHAPTER XXI 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 



Abraham Lincoln, President U. S. A., 1861-1865 
Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-president U. S. A., 1861-1865 
Jefferson Davis. President C. S. A., 1861-1865 
Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-president C. S. A., 1861-1865 

Southern Sentiment. From the beginning of the Republi- 
can party, which was sectional and openly hostile to southern 
interests, all wise men feared the crisis which was now precip- 
itated. The South believed that she was about to suffer op- 
pression and that she could find 
security and prosperity only outside 
of the Union. Her constitutional 
rights had been ignored; tariff laws 
had been passed which imposed an 
unequal burden on her people ; a per- 
sistent effort had been made to 
exclude her citizens from the terri- 
tories which were the common prop- 
erty of all the states; the fugitive 
slave law had been nullified again 
and again ; not the least hard to bear 
had been the constant agitation of 
the abolitionists, who in their sincere 
but misguided zeal had insulted 
southern honor, had misrepresented southern institutions, and 
had endangered southern homes. The only peaceful sokition 
seemed to be for the southern states to secede from the Union 
and resume the powers which they had delegated to the federal 
government. 

There were many in the South, however, who, although they 

309 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



3IO 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



hclicvcd in llic rifj;-]!! of a state to secede, thought it would 
he l)ettcr to remain in the Union and test the justice of Lin- 
cohi's achninistration. Nevertheless, the majority heheved that 
the time had come for separation. South Carohna was the 
first to act.^ 

Secession of the First Seven States. When the news of 
Lincohi's election reached South Cartjiina, the legislature called 
a convention of the people to meet at Charleston, and on Decem- 
her 20, 1860, the convention repealed the ordinance l)y which 
South Carolina had ratified the Constitution in 1788, and the 
subsequent ordinances ratifying the several amendments to the 
Constitution. 'The convention solemnly declared the union for- 
merly existing hetween South Carolina and the other states to 
he dissoKed. i?y February i, six other states had followed 

South Carolina's lead and had se- 
ceded from the Union. They were 
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Geor- 
gia, Louisiana, and Texas. Con- 
ventions of the people passed seces- 
sion ordinances in all these states 
and in Texas the action of the con- 
vention was submitted to the people 
and ratified by popular vote. As 
the southern states seceded, their 
citizens who held federal offices re- 
signed. Senators, representatives in 
Congress, cabinet officers, army and 
navy officers, and civil service offi- 
cers, all went home and offered their 
services to their several states and 
to the Confederacy. 
Confederate States of America. The same state conventions 
that framed the ordinances of secession likewise chose dele- 

^ In South Carolina the presidential electors were still chosen by the 

IcKislalure, and this body remained in session until the result of the 

election was known, ancl then immediately called a convention of the 
people to consider the matter of secession. 




JEFFERSON DAVIS 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 311 

gates to a convention of all the seceded states to meet at Mont- 
gomery, Alabama, and on February 4, i86f, delegates assem- 
bled from six of the states. The representatives from Texas 
did not arrive until later because in that state the delegates 
were awaiting the result of the jjopular vote."^ 

The convention at Montgomery proceeded without delay, 
and on I'ebruary 8th a provisional constitution was adojjted 
and a provisional President was chosen for the new union, 
called the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis ^ 
of Mississippi was chosen President and Alexander H. Ste- 
phens of Georgia, Vice-president.^ 

1 Texas was admitted to the Confederacy on March 2, the anniversary 
of Texan independence. 

2JefTerson IJavis, soldier and statesman, the first and only President 
of the Confederate States of America, was horn in Kentucky in j8fj8. 
While he was in his infancy the family moved to Mississippi. He was 
graduated at West J'oint, in 1828, and served in the federal army until 
18.35, when he resigned to become a cotton planter in Mississippi. In 
1845 he was elected to Congress, but resigned that position to serve in 
the Mexican War as a colonel of .a Mississippi regiment. He distinguished 
himself at Monterey and iluena Vista, being wounded in the latter battle. 
He was United .States senator from 1847 to 185; ; in 185.3 he became .Sec- 
retary of War under Franklin Pierce. He reentered the Senate in 1857, 
and remained a member of that body until Mississippi seceded in 1861. 
Mr. Davis, after Calhoun, was the leader of the states rights party, lie 
was chosen President of the Confederacy, and served the South with 
alrtlity and unwearied devotion. His life during the eventful years from 
1861 to 1865 is bound up in that of the Confederacy. At the close of the 
war he was captured in Georgia by Federal troops and carried to Fortress 
Monroe where, under the charge of treason, he was detained two years, 
but he was never brought to trial. He spent the closing years of his life 
at his modest but beautiful home, " fieauvoir," in .Mississippi, lie di'-d in 
New Orleans, December 6, 1889, and was buried there. In 1893 the body 
was removed to Richmond. 

2 Alexander H. Stej^hens was born in Georgia, in 1812. His boyhood 
was one of poverty and toil. He was graduated at the University of 
Georgia, and, after teaching school for a year, was admitted to the prac- 
tice of law at the age of twenty-two. Before the war he served his state 
as a member of the legislature and in Congress, being a member of the 
latter for sixteen consecutive years. He was chosen Vice-president of the 
Confederacy, and held that office while the government lasted. At the 
close of the war he was imprisoned at Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor, 
until October, 1865. He was elected United .States senator from Georgia in 
18^, but was not permitted to take his scat. In 187.3 he became a member 
of the lower House of Congress from Georgia, and held that office for 
nine years. At the time of his death in 188.3 he was governor of Georgia. 
He possessed a strong and active intellect in a weak physical frame. 



312 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



On February i8. in the presence of a vast throng, at Mont- 
gomery, the new President took the oath of oftice. and soon 
the " Stars and Bars." the flag of the Confederacy, was raised 
o\"er the capitol. Tlie constitnticni was later ratified by the 

separate states in con\-entions as- 
sembled, and the President and 
the Vice-president were formally 
elected by the people. President 
Davis, in his inaugural address, 
brietl}' rc\iewed the causes which 
had made necessary the forma- 
tion of a new Union and declared 
thai: "The Confederate States 
are anxious to cultivate peace 
and commerce with all nations. 
. . . Through many years of 
controversy with our late asso- 
ciates,* the northern states, we 
have vainly endea\-ored to se- 
cure tranquillity and to obtain 
respect for the rights to which 
we are entitled. As a necessity, 
not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separa- 
tion; and henceforth our energies must be directed to the 
coiuluct of our own affairs and to the perpetuity of the Con- 
federacy which we have formed. If a just perception of mu- 
tual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate 
political career, our most earnest desire will have been fulfilled ; 
but if this be denied us, and the integrity of our territory and 
jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us, with firm 
resolve, to appeal to arms and invoke the blessings of Provi- 
dence on a just cause. . . . Actuated solely by the desire to 
preser\e our own rights and promote our own welfare, the 
separation of the Confederate States has been marked by no 
aggression upon the others, and followed by no domestic con- 
vulsions. . . . Reverentlv let us invoke the God of our fathers 




ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 313 

to giiide and protect us in our efforts to perpetuate the prin- 
ciples, which by His blessing they were able to vindicate, es- 
tablish, and transmit to their posterity, and with a continuance 
of His favor ever gratefully acknowledged, we may hope- 
fully look forward to success, to peace, and to prosperity." ^ 

The Confederate Constitution, The Constitution of the 
Confederate States was similar in most respects to the Con- 
stitution of the United States. The southern states sought no 
new go\'ernment nor new institutions ; they seceded and formed 
a new Union because they felt that in no other way could 
they perpetuate the great principles of constitutional govern- 
ment and state sovereignty which the fathers of the republic 
had established. 

The Constitutions, however, differed decidedly in some re- 
spects. Under the Confederacy the term of office for the 
President and Vice-president was six years and both were 
ineligible for reelection. Internal improvements at the ex- 
pense of the general government and a protective tariff were 
forbidden. 

The Confederate Commissioners. Upon seceding the south- 
ern states proceeded to take possession of the arsenals, forts, 
post-offices, and customhouses within their boundaries. The 
land on which such property was situated had been ceded 
by the respective states to the federal government; the prop- 
erty itself belonged to all the states in common. Soon only 
Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, Fort Pickens at Pensacola, 
and the fortifications near Key West remained in possession 
of the United States government. While the southern states 
took control of this property, commissioners were sent to the 
United States by South Carolina first, and then by the Con-' 
federacy, for the purpose of adjusting all questions of differ- 

1 President Davis selected as members of his first cabinet : Robert Toombs 
of Georgia, Secretary of State; S. R. Mallory of Florida, Secretary of the 
Navy; Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana, Attorney-general; John 11. Rea- 
gan of Texas, Postmaster-general ; C. G. Memminger of South Carolina, 
Secretary of the Treasury; and L. P. Walker of Alabama, Secretary of 
War. 



314 STIT>EXTS HISTORY OF OUR COI'XTRY 

ence between the two governments. They were mstmcted 
to arrange for the purchase or transfer of federal property 
within the states, to adjust the national debt, to arrange 
for the diWsion of the territory, and for the e^-acnation of 
forts still held by the United States troops. But no adjust- 
ment was made because the northern states refused to rec- 
ognize the right of the southern states to secede or to regard 
the Cot: tevienicy ?.s an independent government. 

The Right of Secession. Throughout the South there was 
a strong attachment for the Union, the establishment and 
development of which had been due in large part to her 
statesmen and soldiers. But the Sotith's devotion to the Con- 
stitution, her material interests, and the peace of her people 
Avere sirperior to her attachment to the Union and she exer- 
cised the right generally recognized at the formation of the 
Union for each state to withdraw. From the earliest discus- 
sions of the relations of the states, the right of secession was 
regarded as reserved; had this not been understood at the 
time of the fonnation of the Union, it is extremely doubtful 
whether the Constimtion would have been adopted. Notwith- 
standing the fact that the right to secevie was thus understood 
without being expressly declared in the Constitution, three of 
the states. \"irginia. Xew York, and Rhode Island, affirmed 
in their ordinances of ratification that each state could re- 
stmie its delegated powers if this should become necessary 
to the welfare of its people.* During the first four or five 
decades of the Union the right of secession was proclaimed 
ag:\in and again.* Xew England believed that the growing 
power and extent of the South and the ^Vest in Congress threat- 
ened her interests and under iiK^re than one provocation she con- 
sidered seceding- Even as late as 1S45. '^^ resolutions op- 
posing the annexation of Texas, the Massachusetts legisla- 

1 See Ratitkration ot Coivjriinriv^n. |vs^ 17a 

- Maj.isjchti$ciis threatened ?ece><?ion iv. iSi.\> at the time of the Louijiina 
I>*in:h;i*e, ami a^tm in iS" - . .^t the achnij<>ion ct the state of 
Louisiana, In 1S14 the i-. : :ion, in which all the Xew Eng- 
land states were represei. — .- ,-..> ^vvlsiderx^d \\-ithdrawai fn>m the 

Unkai. 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDER.\CY 315 

nrre claimed this right. Sonth CaroUna, in 1832. when she 
resisted the tarilf acts of iSj8 and 183 J. ascsened the right. 
Frcmi the southern standpoint the Union had alvra\-s been 
a federal reptiWic cvmiposed of sovereign states, and the indi- 
ridual citizen owed his first alkgiance to the state. So strong 
was the feeling of allegiance to the state that many citizens 
of the Sonth who opposed secession as a matter of policy felt 
in doty boimd to follow their states in secession. One of 
these was Alexander H. Stephens. \"ice-president of the Con- 
fevieracy. He upheld the right of secession, though he doubt evi 
its wisdom: and when his state seceded he gave her his alle- 
giance. 

Sentiinent at the N\r:h. At the North, while the aboKtion- 
ists openly rejoiced that the slaveholding states had with- 
drawn from the Union, the general feeling toward >; — 
was one of surprise and deep regret. There were c: ^ 

\-iews as to what should be done in the crisis, and for soir.e 
time the federal government seemed unable to reach a de- 
cision. Many people, while deploring secession. cv>nceded it 
as a right and they conld see no power tmder the Constitution 
whereby the federal government could force a state to rerani 
to the Union: to these there seemed iK»thing to do bin to let 
the seceding states " depart in peace." 

The Democrats of tlie Xonh hoped that even yet the ditter- 
ences between the sections might be compromised and the 
Union be preserved. Scone of the Repoblican leaders were 
opposed to compromise on the groimd that it would settle 
nothing and would onh^ postpone the final issue, Througii- 
out the North, and more particularly in the West, there had 
grown up a strong feeling of lo\-alty to the Union, rather 
than to the state. Daniel Webster's \'iew. presented in his 
great debate with Ha^ne in 1830, that the federal govern- 
ment is supreme and that the states are suK^rdinate, came to 
be generally accepted as the cv^rrect tlieon»- of tlie Union. 
This . change in political thought was due to altered condi- 
tions. The South, in 1S60, was an agricultural section as it 



3i6 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

had been in 1787, but the North had become a great indus- 
trial section which looked to the United States government 
for aid under a protective tariff. The growth of the new 
states in the West which had been carved out of the public 
domain intensified the feeling of loyalty to the Union and 
contributed to the view of national supremacy.-^ In this man- 
ner and for these reasons the differences between the sections 
were marked not only by contrary interests and political opin- 
ions, but by conflicting conceptions of the nature of the federal 
government under the Constitution. 

Efforts at Compromise. During the period of time within 
which the several southern states seceded, attempts were made 
at compromise, and almost by the time the Federal Congress 
assembled in December, i860, measures were introduced in 
the hope of bringing peace. The most important of these 
was proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, on 
December 18, i860, two days before South Carolina passed 
the ordinance of secession.^ Crittenden's compromise con- 
tained two main provisions : first, the Constitution was to be so 
amended that the Missouri Compromise line should be ex- 
tended to the Pacific;^ second, a less objectional fugitive 
slave law was to be passed and payment was to be made out 
of the federal treasury for fugitive slaves that could not 
be recovered. The first provision was designed to conciliate 
the South and the second to conciliate the North. In Con- 
gress the compromise was opposed and came to naught. Crit- 
tenden then proposed tliat the whole suljject be submitted to 
a direct vote of the people, but this proposition also failed. 
Most statesmen had come to the belief that the time for com- 
promise had passed. 

1 In admitting new states the provision was that they should enjoy all 
the rights of the original thirteen states. 

- Senator Crittenden had two sons who achieved distinction in the war 
which followed ; General George B. Crittenden served in the Confederate 
army ; General Thomas B. Crittenden in the Union army. 

3 The Dred Scott decision rendered a constitutional amendment neces- 
sary in order to divide the territories into slave and free, since under 
that decision slaves could be taken into any territory in the United States. 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 317 

The Peace Conference. In the meanwhile the border states 
delayed action ; their sympathies were with their sister states 
to the south but they earnestly hoped for reconciliation. Vir- 
ginia, in the hope of bringing about mediation, invited the 
states to send delegates to a Peace Conference at Washington. 
This body assembled on February 4, 1861, on the very day 
that the delegates of the seceded states met at Montgomery 
to frame a government for the new Confederacy. Twenty- 
one states were represented — fourteen from the North and 
seven from the South. ^ John Tyler, former President of the 
United States, presided over this convention and a plan of 
compromise was adopted similar to the Crittenden compro- 
mise. The recommendations of the convention were not ac- 
cepted by Congress and nothing came of the Peace Conference. 

President Buchanan and the Star of the West. President 
Buchanan earnestly desired to avert a clash before the close 
of his presidential term. He was a Democrat and his sym- 
pathies were largely with the South, His message to the 
Congress that assembled in December, i860, showed that the 
personal liberty laws passed by the northern states and the 
so-called underground railway had given the South just cause 
for complaint. He denied the right of secession, but at the 
same time he knew of no constitutional power by which the 
" federal government could coerce a state." But the question 
of federal property in the seceded states seemed to demand 
a speedy solution. South Carolina, immediately after her 
secession, sent special commissioners to Washington to nego- 
tiate the transfer of Fort Sumter and other federal property 
in the state. Major Robert Anderson, with a small detach- 
ment of Federal troops, was stationed at Fort Sumter, and in 
spite of repeated and insistent demands for its surrender by 
South Carolina, President Buchanan resolved to hold the fort. 
An evacuation he considered would be regarded as a recogni- 
tion of the independence of South Carolina. On the other 
hand, the reenforcement of Major Anderson with provisions 

^ The seven southern states that had seceded were not represented. 



3i8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

and men would be an act of war from the standpoint of the 
South. Notwithstanding this consideration a merchant vessel, 
the Star of the JVest, was dispatched with troops and pro- 
visions for Anderson's relief, but as the vessel approached 
Charleston Harbor she was obliged to turn back under fire 
from South Carolina batteries. This was early in Tanuar)^ 
In the meantime every one waited anxiously to see what Presi- 
dent Lincoln and his Republican advisers would do. 

Lincoln's Inaugural. At length March 4 came and Lincoln 
was inaugurated President of the United States.^ Probably 
no man was ever inducted into this high ofifice under more 
trying circumstances. The country was in confusion amount- 
ing almost to chaos; seven states had withdrawn from the 
Union, and no man could foresee the end or suggest a satis- 
factory measure for peaceable reunion. ]\Iany of Lincoln's 
friends thought that in the excitement of the times his life 
was in danger, and for this reason he had traveled secretly 
from Philadelphia to Baltimore, in order to elude possible 
assassins. In his inaugural address the new President 
seemed deeply impressed with his grave responsibilities; he 
denied the right of secession and declared his intention to 
maintain the laws of the Union in all the states ; he announced 
that he would hold all places belonging to the government 
and collect all duties and imposts ; he appealed to the South 
to remain in the Union and said that he had " no purpose 

1 Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, in 1809. His father moved 
to Indiana in 1816, and to Illinois in 1830. As a boy Lincoln had very 
few advantages, but he grew up with all the vigor of the frontier. In 
1832 he served as a private and as a captain in the Black Hawk War. 
Failing as a merchant, he studied law and was elected to the IlHnois 
legislature in 1834, and again in 1836. In 1846 he was elected to the 
lower House of Congress on the Whig ticket, and in 1858, as candidate 
for the new Republican party, he was defeated by Douglas, the Democratic 
candidate for the I'nitcd States Senate. In spite of his defeat Lincoln's 
debates with Douglas made him a conspicuous figure, and in i860 won 
for him the Presidency as the nominee of the Republican party. Lin- 
coln's life from 1861 to 1S65 is bound up in the great . struggle between 
the North and the South. In 1864 he was reelected to the Presidency. 
He was shot and mortally wounded at Ford's Theater at Washington, 
April 14, 1865. 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 319 

directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery 
in the states " where it already existed. Lincoln made Will- 
iam H. Seward his Secretary of State, and this official sug- 
gested an aggressive foreign policy in the hope that all the 
states might again rally together ; hut Lincoln with his great, 
quiet strength patiently watched and waited for public opinion, 
mindful ever of the heavy task he had set himself — to pre- 
serve the Union. 

Lincoln's statements from the standpoint of the seceded 
states were equivalent to a declaration of war. These states 
believed that they had a right to withdraw from the Union 
and to form a separate government and, this being the case, 
they held that the federal government could not continue to 
hold southern forts and collect duties in the South. 

The New Administration and the Confederate Commission- 
ers. It will be remembered that President Davis had ap- 
pointed Confederate commissioners to confer with the govern- 
ment at Washington concerning the transfer of forts and other 
property within the borders of the Confederacy, the division 
of territories, and the adjustment of the public debt.^ These 
commissioners arrived in Washington shortly after Linccjln's 
inauguration, but the federal government refused to give them 
official recognition. The government at Washington would 
not recognize the Confederacy and, therefore, would not re- 
ceive its commissioners ; but these were unofficially assured 
by Secretary Seward that their requests would be granted. 

Fall of Fort Sumter. South Carolina had regarded the at- 
tempt of the Star of the West to reen force the garrison at 
Fort Sumter as an act of war, but she had not seized tiie 
fort because she still hojjed for a peaceful solution of the 
dilhculty. Early in April, President Lincoln, on his own re- 
sponsibility, sent word to Governor Pickens that provisions 
and troops would be sent to the relief of Major Anderson. 
The relief squadron consisted of eight armed vessels and 

1 President Davis had appointed as commissioners : A. B. Roman of 
Louisiana, M. J. Crawford of Georgia, and John Forsyth of Alabama. 



320 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

twenty-four hundred men. The arrival of the Federal fleet 
was a signal for war. The leaders of the Confederacy felt 
that this effort should be resisted unless the new union would 
dissolve itself at once and be false to every principle it had 
declared. General P. G. T. Beauregard, who had been placed 
in charge of the defense of Charleston, was ordered by Presi- 
dent Davis to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter. Major 
Anderson refused and at five o'clock on the morning of April 
12, 1 86 1, the Confederate batteries opened fire. Anderson 
gallantly defended his fort and the cannonading continued on 
both sides all day and far into the night. On the afternoon 
of the second day the fort caught fire from the bursting of 
its own shells and Major Anderson surrendered. On April 
14, the little garrison retired from the fort with the honors 
of war. Not a man was killed on either side during the 
action, but as the Federal troops on their retirement were 
saluting the United States flag a cannon burst and one soldier 
was killed and several were wounded. Fort Sumter was in 
the hands of the Confederates and the long and terrible War 
Between the States had begun. 

The Call for Volunteers; Other Preparations. The news 
of the fall of Fort Sumter aroused both the North and the 
South. Everybody realized what it meant; no longer was 
there any hope of a peaceful solution of the sectional estrange- 
ment. On April 15, the day after the fall of Fort Sum- 
ter, President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand 
volunteers to enforce the laws of the Union in the seceded 
states and many more than this number promptly answered 
the call. The people of the North had no proper understand- 
ing of the southern view or of southern devotion to con- 
viction; they believed that with a little show of force the 
trouble would be ended. 

President Davis also issued a call for thirty-five thousand 
volunteers and the response was immediate.^ The southern 
people, devoted as they were to their principles and resolute 

^ See Henry Timrod's poem, A Cry to Arms. 




STATES CONTROLLED BY FED 




AXI) l!V COXFI'-.nF.RATl-.S I X 1861 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 321 

as they were in defending their rights, did not fully compre- 
hend the North's loyalty to the Union. They believed that 
prompt resistance would succeed and that they would soon 
establish the Confederacy. 

President Davis also issued letters of marcjue and reprisal 
and commissioned privateers to seize the goods and vessels 
of the United States. On April 19 President Lincoln issued 
a proclamation declaring a blockade of all the southern ports 
and declaring also that any persons acting under the author- 
ity of the Confederacy who should attack vessels of the United 
States should be treated as pirates. The Federal Congress 
made it a crime for any person either by land or by water 
to trade with the people of the seceded states. 

Secession of Four More States. Lincoln's call for volun- 
teers to force the seceded states back into the Union caused 
intense excitement in the southern states which were still in 
the Union, to-wit, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky 
Missouri, Arkansas, Tenn.essee, and North Carolina. The 
governors of these states refused to respond to the call for the 
reason that they considered the seceded states to be acting 
within their rights and held that the Federal government had 
no lawful power to coerce them. Four of these states, Arkan- 
sas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, rather than 
join in making war on their sister states to the south, withdrew 
from the Union and joined the Southern Confederacy. The 
mountaineers of East Tennessee and the people of Western 
Virginia were strongly opposed to secession and their sympa- 
thies were with the Union. The western counties of Virginia, 
held by federal troops, set up a state government gf their own 
and sent senators and representatives to the Federal Congress. 
They also provided for the division of the state. 

The Constitution of the United States expressly declares 
that a state cannot be formed out of another state "without 
the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned, as well 
as of Congress." Notwithstanding this provision, the Federal 
government ratified the act of the people of the western coun- 



322 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



ties of Virginia and the state of \\'est Virginia was admitted 
to the Union in 1863. The people of East Tennessee did not 
attempt to form a separate state, but for the most part re- 




COXFEDERATE CAPITOL AT RICHMOND 

mained in sympathy with the Union cause. By June, 1861, 
the Confederacy embraced eleven states and the seat of 
government was removed from ^lontgomery to Richmond. 
Virginia. 

The Border States. The other four border states did not 
secede. In Delaware there had never been a strong feeling 
in favor of secession, but in Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri 
the secessionists and the unionists were about equally divided. 
Within these states there were bitter struggles. In each of 
them the Union sentiment was strong enough to prevent the 
state from seceding, but they each contributed many troops 
to both sides. In ^Maryland there was strong sympathy for 
the South. \\'hen a Massachusetts regiment passed through 
Baltimore on April 19 on its way to Washington in response 
to Lincoln's call for troops, the people attacked them in the 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 323 

streets of the city.^ Several were killed on both sides and 
here was shed the first blood of this long and bitter war. 
Kentucky did not secede but she declared she would not join 
in a war against the South. In Missouri a considerable ele- 
ment, backed by the state authorities, were in favor of joining 
the Confederacy but many of the people opposed secession. 
This state, too, was the scene of bitter civil strife. For months 
Missouri hung in the balance, but in the end the Union view 
prevailed. Nevertheless, the Confederate Congress subse- 
quently admitted both Kentucky and Missouri to the Confed- 
eracy and these two states were represented in both Federal 
and Confederate Congresses. 

Two Points of View. Sectional strife as old as the Union 
had grown stronger and stronger, more dangerous, more un- 
reasonable. The conflict of northern and southern inter- 
ests had many times well-nigh broken asunder the bonds of 
union. The contest between the sections over slavery was 
the occasion for the breach. Eleven states had seceded and 
set up a new government ; twenty-two remained in the Union. 
The twenty-two denied the right of secession, and were fight- 
ing to maintain the Union, and to force back the seceded 
states. The eleven were equally determined to maintain their 
independence. Southerners did not fight for a redress of 
grievances ; secession, from their standpoint, had accomplished 
that. The loyal sons of the South owed their allegiance to 
their states and to the new union which they had formed and 
had sworn to uphold. Their attitude was that of a nation re- 
pelling dismemberment and conquest. They felt that it was 
their bounden duty to resist the invader, to defend their states, 
and to protect their homes. Thus American was fighting 
against American, each with a totally different conception 
of the war and each convinced that his cause was right and 
just. 

1 For a time it was thought that Maryland would secede. James R. 
Randall, when he heard of the attack on the Massachusetts troops, wrote 
the beautiful poem, Morylaml, My Maryland, expressing the sentiment 
uf the South. This is one of the most appealing battle songs ever written. 



324 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Population of the North and the South. In most respects 
the two belligerents were unequally matched. The population 
of the twenty-two northern states in i860 was about twenty- 
two millions, of whom fewer than one-half million were negro 
slaves. In the eleven states of the Confederacy there was a 
population of about nine millions, three and one-half millions 
of whom were negro slaves. With respect to the fighting 
population, the North was about four times as strong as the 
South. Many men went into the southern army from Mary- 
land, Kentucky, and Missouri, but these were about balanced 
by the number that joined the Union army from Western Vir- 
ginia and Eastern Tennessee. A large proportion of the white 
adult males of the South were brought into action at the 
outset of the struggle and later conscription acts were passed 
which at first made all able-bodied men between eighteen and 
thirty-five years of age liable to service ; and, before the war 
closed, older men and boys of sixteen were pressed into the 
ranks. Thus the South had to use its entire fighting popula- 
tion for its defense and only old men, women, children, and 
negro slaves were left at home to furnish the necessary sup- 
plies and to raise the crops upon which the southern people 
and armies subsisted during the war.^ 

Resources of the North and the South, Besides its ad- 
vantages in numbers, the North possessed far greater resources 
than the South. The population of the South was almost 
entirely rural ; New Orleans was the only large city within 
the borders of the Confederacy; there were few factories, and 
the people had to depend upon the outside world for their 
manufactured products and for arms and ammunition. The 
South's income came chiefly from her exports of cotton ; but 
before the war was half over it was almost impossible to ship 

1 The abolitionists had thought that at the beginning of the war the 
slaves would make a wild stampede for freedom, but they remained 
quietly and peacefully at home at work on the plantations with no one 
to watch them but the women, little children, and old men. Some of the 
slaves also served the Confederate army as teamsters and aided in throw- 
ing up breastworks. 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 325 

cotton to market, and the value of the South's great staple 
sank to nothing. The blockade, moreover, prevented her from 
securing arms and ammunition abroad and shut out many of 
the necessaries of life. 

In the North, on the other hand, the industries were varied. 
The farms produced food in abundance and the factories and 
the foundries produced the articles needed for the life of the 
people and for the maintenance of the armies. The ready 
money and the open ports of the North put the resources 
of the world at her command. The population of the North 
and West was becoming more urban. New York City in 
i860 had a population of eight hundred thousand and the 
other northern cities were steadily growing. Immigrants had 
come into the country in ever-increasing numbers since 1830 
and they swelled the population of the North and West, for 
few of them came to the South. At the outbreak of the war 
the Confederacy had no navy and nothing out of which to 
create one except its trained officers who had left the Federal 
service on the secession of their states. She had not a single 
ship of war and there were over three thousand five hundred 
miles of seacoast and almost two hundred river and harbor 
openings to protect. The navy of the United States was 
entirely inadequate for the blockade and the Federal gov- 
ernment immediately began constructing and purchasing new 
warships. The means of transportation within the Confed- 
eracy were not so good as in the northern states. The decade 
from 1850 to i860 had been a period of railroad building; 
twenty-five thousand of the thirty thousand miles in operation 
were built during these years, but by far the greater portion 
of the railroad mileage was in the North where the population 
was denser. 

Courage and Hope of the South. Despite the tremendous 
advantages in numbers and resources of every kind, it was 
by no means certain that the North would win. The' 
South was on the defensive and this was a point greatly in 
her favor. The whole South was animated by devotion to 



326 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF (5UR COUNTRY 

principle and by the hope of a new national existence which 
would perpetuate the rights for which she contended and the 
institutions which were adapted to her material needs. The 
leaders of the South at once went to work to create an effi- 
cient army. They collected arms and ammunition and made 
provision for the manufacture of their supplies. Efforts were 
made to construct a navy; the first ironclad to enter battle 
was a Confederate ship; small, low, compactly built craft were 
designed to run the blockade. The people of the South pos- 
sessed a strong martial spirit ; they Were accustomed to outdoor 
life and physical exertion and they possessed wonderful en- 
durance — qualities which prove valuable in making good sol- 
diers — and they were fortunate in having superior officers in 
the army. When the states seceded the United States army 
seemed almost disorganized, for over three hundred officers 
left the old service and " went with their states." In the 
nature of things. the southern states had to summon all their 
strength from the beginning of the war, while the North with 
her splendid resources could prolong the struggle until the 
South was exhausted. The Confederacy hoped for foreign 
recognition and intervention, as the southern people felt con- 
fident that the w^orld could not long do without southern cot- 
ton. The sympathy of foreign nations seemed to be with the 
South ; moreover the blockade was a direct blow at the rich 
trade in which many of them were interested. Great Britain, 
the chief commercial power, refused to recognize the Confed- 
eracy as a separate government but in ]\Iay, 1861, she issued 
a proclamation of neutrality which in effect recognized the 
Confederates as belligerents, thus giving their cruisers the right 
to take refuge in foreigii harbors. Other European nations 
soon follo"wed the example of England, but the Confederacy 
failed of express recognition by foreign powers and conse- 
quently had no status among the nations of the earth. 



SECESSION AND THE CONFEDERACY 327 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. State the causes of secession. 2. State the cause of the War Between 
tlie States. 3. Give the first area of secession. 4. Give the second area 
of secession. 5. On what was the Confederate Constitution modeled? 
Why? 6. What had been the attitude of the original thirteen states to- 
ward the right of secession? 7. Why did Alexander H. Stephens and 
some other soutliern leaders oppose secession? 8. What view did calmer 
men of the North take of the secession movement? .9. What events 
overthrew that view? 10. Why did all efforts at compromise fail? 
II. What did each side expect as to the length of the war? 



CHArXER XXII 

TWO YEARS OF WAR, 1861-1862 

The South's Line of Defense, During the first year of the 
war each side was occupied for the most part in preparing- 
for the great struggle by collecting materials and organizing 
its armies. The South had the task of fortifying her long- 
frontier from the Potomac through Cumberland Gap and into 
the West to Columbus on the Mississippi, for hers was a work 

of resisting invasion. Troops, 
under Generals Benjamin Huger 
and John B. Magruder. were sta- 
tioned at Norfolk and on the 
l)eninsula formed by the York 
and the Janies rivers to guard the 
approach to Richmond. In the 
nofthern part of \^irginia General 
P. G. T. Beauregard was sta- 
tioned at Manassas Junction, 
which controlled two railroad 
lines, one leading southward to 
the Confederate capital, the other 
westward to the fertile Shen- 
andoah valley which was valu- 
able to the Confederacy as a 
source of supplies. General Joseph _E. Johnston, commander- 
in-chief of the Confederate forces in the East, was at Win- 
chester guarding the approach to this \'alley from the X^orth. 
Across the mountains the Confederates had a strong line of 
defense extending through southern Kentucky to Columbus on 

328 




GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 




THE SOUTH'S FIR 




pruubwick j-;,^ ^Seceded before April '•>, '";' 

\ Free Stales 
\ion States < 

I Slave holdiny States 

Route of Gen. ISragg 

Sherman TJ> 

•• " •• Hallick and (Irant — ♦ — ♦ 

" " Grant 

Railways 



l'. ()V IJI-'.FI'.XSI'.S 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



329 



tlic Mississippi. General ZolIicolTcr was at Mill Spring- on the 
nppcr Cumberland ; and General Albert Sidney Johnston, com- 
mander-in-chief of the forces in the West, except in the 
extreme South, held Bowling Green, which controllcil the 
railroad line from Louisville to Nashville. Fort Henry on the 
Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland were im- 
portant Confederate strongholds; although they were only 
twelve miles apart they were well manned in order to guard 




MOVEMENTS UK .XKMIES, l8()l 



the Tennessee and Cmnberland valleys, two great highways 
into the South. The Mississippi was fortified from its mouth 
to the ntirthern limit of the (On federacy. Preparations were 
made for the defense of important places along the coast, such 
as Charleston, Savannah. Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston. 
Northern Plans of Operation. The North in the mean- 
while was i^reparing for offensixe operations. Her plan was 
to break through the defenses in the East and to take the Con- 
federate capital; to push the long frontier of the defense in 
the West farther and farther southward; to open up the Mis- 



330 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



sissippi to the sea and thereby deprive the South of important 
means of transportation and divide the Confederacy. The 
Federal government declared a blockade iq^on all seaports in 
the South in order to cut off commerce with the outside world 
and compel the Confederacy to rely upon her own resources. 
Opposed to the Confederate forces along the frontier, were 
Federal troops at Fortress jMonroe under (General Benjamin F. 
Butler : the Army of the Potomac under General Irwin Mc- 
Dowell stationed in A'irginia 
just opposite Washington : 
and General Robert Patter- 
son facing General Johnston 
in the northern part of the 
Slienandoah A^alley. In the 
^^'est the northern armies, 
under the command of Gen- 
eral John C. Fremont, were 
assembled to attack the Con- 
federate lines. 

Struggle for West Vir- 
ginia. Meantime the war 
had already begun. It will 
be recalled that the western 
counties of \'irginia were 
opposed to secession and had 
set up a new state government for themselves. About twenty 
thousand Federal troops, under General George B. McClellan. 
were sent from Ohio to hold this part of ^'i^ginia for the 
Union. Confederate volunteers to the number of five thou- 
sand, under General Robert E. Lee. were trying to hold the re- 
gion for the Confederacy.^ In a series of skimiishes covering 
but a few weeks and ending in the battle of Rich ^Mountain on 




GENERAL C.EORGE B. M CLELLAX 



1 General Robert E. Lee had been oflFered the command of the United 
States army, but while " opposed to secession and deprecating: war," he 
declined. He declared he coidd not raise his hand against his native Vir- 
ginia. He then resigned his position as colonel in the United States army, 
and was made commander of the military forces of Virginia. 




THE FIRST IMPORTANT BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR 



332 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

July 11, 1861, General !McClellan succeeded in driving the Con- 
federates back over the mountains, and thus \\'est Virginia 
was lost to the Confederacy. 

Battle of Manassas or Bull Run. The first great battle of 
the war occurred in Eastern A'irginia in July.^ In Alay, 1861. 
the authorities at Washington decided upon an invasion of Vir- 
ginia and " On to Richmond " was the popular cry throughout 
the North. General \\'infield Scott, who had "won fame in 
the Mexican War, now commander-in-chief of the Federal 
forces, ordered General McDowell with an army of thirty-five 
thousand men to begin the movement southward toward Rich- 
mond by attacking Beauregard at Manassas. General Pat- 
terson was instructed to prevent the Confederate forces under 
Joseph E. Johnston at \\ inchester from moving to the aid of 
Beauregard. About twenty-five miles south of Washington is 
Bull Run Creek, a tributary of the Potomac, and here on July 
18, McDowell found the Confederates entrenched in a line 
about eight miles long defending seven fords and a bridge.- 
Beauregard's army of eighteen thousand was reenforced by 
troops under Johnston, who had stolen a march on General 
Patterson and reached IManassas in time for the battle.^ The 
united Confederate armies numbered about thirty thousand, 
although onlv about half of the forces on each side were actu- 
ally engaged in the battle."* 

On the morning of July 21, IMcDowell made an attack, 
which was stubbornly resisted. At first it appeared as if the 
Confederates would be defeated. The brigades of Generals 
Bee and Evans were falling back in confusion. But just then 
General Thomas J. Jackson's brigade came up. \Mien General 
Jackson was told that the enemy was beating them back he 

1 The first engagement of the war was fought at Big Bethel, about 
nine miles from Hampton, Virginia, on June 10, 1S61. The Confederates 
were victorious. 

■• General Beauregard and General jNIcDowell had been classmates at 
West Point. 

3 General Johnston was the officer in command, but he left the manage- 
ment of the battle to General Beauregard, whose plan he endorsed. 

■* Numbers of those engaged in battle and the losses are approximate 
throughout. 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



333 




calmly replied, " Sir, we will give them the bayonet," and he 
firmly held his ground. General Bee thereupon rallied his men 
b\- calling to them : " See Jackson's troops standing like a stone 
wall. Rally around the \'irginians. Let us determine to die 
here and we will conquer." ^ Thenceforth the great soldier 
and marvelous leader, General 
Thomas J. Jackson, was known 
as " Stonewall Jackson." The Fed- 
eral movement was checked and the 
Confederates pressed forward. The 
Union troops, panic-stricken, finally 
fled from the field in a helpless and 
hopeless rout. There had been great 
enthusiasm in the North over the 
prospect of this engagement and a 
\'ast crowd had come out from 
Washington to " see the rebels run." 
After the battle these spectators 
joined the Federal troops in their 
flight and did not stop until they 

reached \\'ashington. Thus the first attempt to take the Con- 
federate capital ended in defeat.^ 

After Manassas the two armies remained facing each other 
in Northern Virginia for nearly a year and they both occupied 
the time in drilling their troops into effective fighting forces. 
General McClellan was called from his victories in West Vir- 
ginia to supersede General McDowell.^ 

Effect of the Battle. At the South the victory at Bull Run 
caused unbounded joy and perhaps too great a feeling of con- 

1 General Bee was from South Carolina. He was killed in (his battle. 

~ See Julia Ward Howe's poem, Baltic Hymn of the Refuhlic. 

3 President Lincoln had stated in his blockade proclamation that any 
persons molesting the commerce of tlic United States should be treated 
as pirates. The Confederate privateer Savannah had been captured and 
her crew taken to New York City and put in jail to await trial. After 
the battle of Manassas, President Davis sent word that he would deal with 
an equal number of his prisoners in exactly the same manner as tlie 
Confederates were dealt with. After this the I'nitod States accorded 
belligerent rights to the Confederacy. 



GENERAL THOMAS J. JACKSON 



334 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

fidence in the final outcome. ]\Iany of the volunteers believed 
that the war was practically over and returned to their homes, 
but the leaders of the South realized that the struggle had 
hardly begun and they exerted themselves to the utmost in 
strengthening the government within and without. In the 
North there was a deep feeling of gloom and humiliation and 
the people realized that a long and desperate war was before 
them. The Federal Congress authorized the enlistment of 
half a million men and appropriated immense sums for a more 
extensive campaign. 

Contest Over Missouri ; Battle of Wilson's Creek. IMissouri 
was the next great battleground of the war. Here sentiment 
was about equally divided and both sides were making de- 
termined efforts to hold the state. General Nathaniel Lyon, 
commanding the Federal forces, succeeded in pushing the Con- 
federates out of the northern and central parts of the state, but 
near the southern line of IMissouri the Confederates, under 
General Sterling Price, with reenforcements from Arkansas 
and Texas under General Ben IMcCulloch, held their ground. 
On August lo, at Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, the two 
forces met. General Lyon lost his life and the Confederates 
won the day. In October General Henry W. Halleck super- 
seded Fremont as commander of the Federal armies in the 
West and by the eiid of the year the Confederates had lost the 
entire state. 

Blockade Running. During the year 1861 the Confederacj' 
managed to keep in touch w-ith the outside world in spite of 
the fact that she had practically no navy and the Federal navy 
w^as blockading her ports. Daring little blockade runners, laden 
with cargoes of cotton, w^ould dart out of the ports and return 
with ammunition and necessary articles of commerce. Confed- 
erate privateers began early to work great damage upon the 
merchant ships of the North. A few Confederate vessels had 
been built, the chief being the Sumter and the Nashville. In 
order to intercept blockade runners and gain possession of some 
southern luirl)ors as coaling anil supply stations, Federal naval 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 335 

expeditions were undertaken along- the ;\tlantic Coast. In 
1861 Fort Hatteras in North Carohna and Port Royal ^ in 
South CaroHna were taken by the Federals. 

The Trent Affair. A serious foreign complication arose 
before the eventful year 1861 came to an end. The English 
government had issued in ]\Iay, 1861, a proclamation of 
neutrality, simply recognizing the Confederacy as belligerents, 
and other foreign nations soon followed her example. But 
the Confederacy was anxious to secure recognition of her 
independence and to obtain aid from foreign powers, especially 
from Fngland. President Davis sent ex-Senators James M. 
Mason of Virginia and John Slidell of Louisiana as commis- 
sioners to London and Paris respectively. They ran the block- 
ade at Charleston harbor at midnight, October 12, 1861, and 
reached Havana in safety. Here they embarked on the British 
mail steamer Trent for England. On November 8, the 
Trent was fired upon by the L^nited States man-of-war San 
Jacinto; the two Confederate commissioners and their secre- 
taries were seized and carried to Boston harbor and confined 
in Fort Warren as prisoners of war. This proceeding was a 
violation of the rights of neutrality — a principle for which we 
had fought in the War of 18 12. There was great rejoicing in 
the North over the event and Congress tendered a vote of 
thanks to Captain Wilkes of the San Jacinto, but in England 
there was an outburst of resentment at this indignity to the 
British flag. At once there was a demand for the surrender of 
the prisoners and for an apology and but seven days v^^ere 
allowed to the L'nited States for reparation. England threat- 
ened war and the situation was critical, but the United States 
cjuietly yielded the point and released the prisoners, who then 
proceeded on their way to England. 

The Opening of 1862. The year closed with " all quiet 
along the Potomac " and the James.- The Federal troops had 

1 In the capture of Port Royal, General T. F. Drayton commanded 
the Confederate forces, while his hrolher, Captain Pcrcival Drayton, com- 
manded a vessel in the Union licet. 

- While McClellan was drilling his troops for so many months there 
was llashed over the wires day after day, " All quiet along the Potomac." 



33(^^ 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



prevented the secession of the horder states and upheld the 
Union in \\'estern \irginia. The two important battles of 
the year, Manassas and Wilson's Creek, were victories for the 
South. The year 1862 opened with the northern frontier of 
the Confederacy still intact. But during the year the Federal 
armies pushed the southern defenses farther down the Mis- 
sissippi valley, and in \'irginia. in the region between the two 
capitals, the fighting was fierce and prolonged. In the \\"est 
the Union forces were almost universally successful. In the 
East the Confederates were the more successful. The amiy 
of the Potomac, under the command of General George B. Mc- 
Clellan. was still drilling and remained inactive until spring.^ 

In the West severe fighting began the 
first month of the year, and when 
1862 drew to a close the two armies 
were still in the field. 

Battle of Mill Spring. The entire 
line of defense in the West was 
under the command of General Al- 
bert Sidney Johnston of Texas, then 
reputed to be the ablest of the Con- 
federate generals." Opposed to him 
were two Union armies. One con- 
sisted of one hundred thousand men, 
under General Don Carlos Buell in 
central Kentucky, and was consider- 
ably scattered; Buell himself was 
stationed at Louisville. The other 
armv, consisting of fifteen thousand men. under General 




GENERAL ALBERT SIDXEV 
JOHNSTON 



1 In Xovember, 1861. General WinfieUi Scott was obliged by age to 
give up his position as commander-in-chief of the Union forces, and 
General George B. McClellan succeeded him. 

- Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Kentucky-, in 1S03. He was a 
graduate of West Point, and fought in the Black Hawk War. He resigned 
from the army in 1834, and emigrated to Texas where he served in the 
Texan War for independence. In iS.^8 he was appointed Secretary of 
War for the republic of Texas. He served in the Mexican War as colonel 
of the first regiment of Foot Rifleman of Texas. In 1S57. as a United 
States officer, he conducted the military expedition against the Mormons 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



337 




Ulvsses S. Grant, was stationed at Cairo, Illinois.^ On Janti- 
arv 19, General George H. Thomas, coninianding a division 
of Buell's army, was attacked by the Confederate force at 
Mill Spring- on the Cumberland. The Confederates lost the 
battle and their leader. General Fe- 
lix Zollicoffer, was killed in the 
:!Ction. Shortly after this defeat the 
main body of the Confederates 
withdrew from Kentucky. 

Fall of Fort Henry and Fort 
Donelson. The next points in the 
West attacked by the Federals were 
the two forts controlling the Ten- 
nessee and the Cumberland rivers, 
great highways which penetrated 
far into the South. A force from 
Cairo, under General Grant, trans- 
ported on a fleet of giuiboats com- 
manded by Commodore Foote, 
moved against Fort Henry on the Tennessee. The army at- 
tacked the fort by land while the gunboats shelled it from 
the water side. ]\Iost of the garrison, which consisted of 
fewer than three thousand men, escaped across the country 
to Fort Donelson, twelve miles distant, leaving only a hand- 
ful of men of the garrison under Colonel Tilghman to defend 
the fort. After a few days the little force was compelleil to 
surrender. Grant and Foote, with about thirty thousand men, 
next moved against Fort Donelson, a strong fortress on the 
(\nnberland, where there were about sixteen thousand Con- 
federates under Generals Floyd, Pillow, antl Buckner. 

with rare judgment and courage and for this service he was brevetted 
lirigadier-gencral. At the outbreak of the War Between the States ho 
was in command of the Department of the Pacific, but on the secession 
oi Texas he resigned his commission and entered the service of the Con- 
federacy. 

1 General Grant had descended from Cairo and attacked Belmont on the 
Mississippi, but General Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal Bishop and Con- 
federate general, who held the strong post of Columlnis on the opposite 
side of the river, brought reinforcements and Grant withdrew. 






GENERAL ^1.VSSE^ 



33^ STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

During the first day of the general engagement, February 
15, the fire of Commodore P\iote*s gunboats \vas turned 
on the fort, but the Confederate response was so ter- 
rific that several of the giniboats were disabled and the fleet 
retired. The Confederates made a brilliant attack and opened 
a way of escape to Nashville, but for some strange reason 
were ordered back to the trenches and thus lost their vantage 
ground. Owing to the determination and tenacity of purpose 
which made Grant famous, the Federals soon gained the ad- 
vantage and nothing was left for the Confederates to do but 
to surrender or be slaughtered. To General Buckner's offer 
of capitulation Grant sent a demand for '* unconditional sur- 
render." General Buckner was forced to accept these terms 
and surrendered Fort Donelson, with twelve to fifteen thousand 
prisoners and all the stores and ammunition. Grant lost about 
three thousand men in the engagement.^ 

Shrinking of the Confederate Frontier. The loss of Buck- 
ner's army and the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, which 
controlled two important highways into the Confederacy, 
were severe blows to the South. The Confederate line of 
defense in the \\'est now' had to be pushed two hundred 
miles farther south in Tennessee, extending from Memphis 
and Corinth and thence to Chattanooga. Columbus and other 
points in Kentucky were evacuated. Buell took up his 
1 csition in Xashville, but not until the Confederates had de- 
stroyed their stores. President Lincoln now made Andrew 
Johnson military governor of Tennessee. The fall of Forts 
Henry and Donelson was the hrst victory of any importance 
Vvon by the Federals and there was great rejoicing in the 

1 General Ulysses S. Grant was born in Ohio, in 1823. He was grad- 
uated at West Point in 1S43. He served gallantly under General Scott 
in the ^lexican War. Resigning from the army in 1854 he went into 
business, btit was never successful. In 1S61 he was appointed brigadier- 
general of Illinois volunteers, and was placed in command at Cairo. Ho 
won several brilliant victories in the West, and in 1864 he succeeded 
General Halleck as commander-in-chief of the Union armies. His series 
of battles against Lee and his siege of Petersburg led to the surrender 
of the army of northern Virginia. He was elected to the Presidency in 
1868, and served two terms. He died in 18S5. 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 339 

North. The country hccame interested for the first time in 
" rncomhtional Surrender Grant." 

Battle of Shiloh, P.v the first of April, Grant, with an army 
of forty thousanch had moved up the Tennessee River and was 
encamped at Pittsburg Landins;- in southern Tennessee. His 
plan was to take Corinth, an important railway point in north- 
ern Mississippi on the Memphis & Charleston railroad, a line 
of immense importance to the South. General Johnston saw 
that Corinth was Grant's objective point and determined to 
move forward by stealth and surprise the Federals at Shiloh 
Church before reenforcements under Buell could arrive. On 
Sunday morning, April 6, began the greatest battle ever be- 
fore fought on the western continent. At the close of the first 
day's fighting the advantage was with the Confederates. The 
Federal army was driven back to the river and the tents which 
they had occupied were in possession of the Confederates. The 
losses on both sides were very heavy, especially with the Con- 
federates, for they lost their great commander, Albert Sid- 
ney Johnston.^ This dire misfortune came just as Grant's 
army was about to be utterly routed, and in the confusion fol- 
lowing it the Confederates were unable to follow up their 
victory. General Beauregard, who was now in the West, took 
command.- Buell meanwhile came up with twenty-five thou- 
sand fresh troops and the weary Confederates were outnum- 
bered nearly two to one. On Monday they slowly retired from 
the field. The slaughter in this battle was terrific; the Fed- 
erals lost thirteen thousand out of upwards of seventy thou- 
sand engaged; the Confederates lost eleven thousand out of 
their forty thousand. 

Evacuation of Corinth and Opening of the Upper Missis- 
sippi. General Beauregard moved southward to Corinth, 

1 In the afternoon, while Johnston was riding up and down his lines 
cheering his men. he was wounded in tlie leg, an artery being severeil. 
In spite of this he continued in the saddle thinking only of victory, but 
fainting from weakness he was taken from his horse and died in a few 
minutes. His body now rests in the state cemetery at Austin, Texas. 

- Beauregard was sick and had left his bed to take command of the 
army. 



340 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

which the Confederates had strongly fortified. General Hal- 
leck. now in command of the Federal armies in the \\'est, 
advanced upon Corinth. On May 13. General Beauregard, 
being greatly outnumbered, evacuated the place in order to 
save his army from capture, and retired southward to Tupelo, 
a point controlling the railroad leading to Mobile. The taking 
of Corinth broke down the second Confederate line of defense 
and gave the Federals possession of the western end of the 
only railroad in the South which directly connected the Mis- 
sissippi River with the Atlantic seaboard. A Federal force, 
under General John Pope, supported by gunboats under Com- 
modore Foote, had succeeded, with great difficulty, in taking 
the Confederate fortifications on the Mississippi at Xew 
Aladrid and Island Xo. 10. Next, ^lemphis and Fort Pillow 
fell and the Federals had opened the Mississippi as far south 
as Vicksburg. 

Defense of New Orleans. There was now a period of delay 
in Tennessee, but in the lower Mississippi region important 
events were taking place. New Orleans, the metropolis of the 
Confederacy, was a point of great importance, controlling 
the entrance to the ]Mississippi, the great central waterway. 
In this city there were also cannon foundries which were of 
inestimable value to the South. About seventy-five miles 
below the city the Confederates had erected two strong forts 
on opposite sides of the river. Fort Jackson and Fort St. 
Philip, each garrisoned by a few hundred men and each 
provided with heavy gims. Across the river betw-een the 
two forts six hea\y chains were stretched, supported by a 
great raft of cypress logs, so that the river was completely 
closed. Gunboats, ironclad rams, and batteries also protected 
the forts and there were other batteries along the river banks 
as far as New Orleans, but the only ironclad warship the 
Confederates had — the Louisiana — was unfinished.^ The 

1 The Confederates had the ironclad ram Manassas which was used in 
the defense of the city, but the unfinished Louisiana was tied up to her 
moorings during the action. 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



341 



Confederate naval forces were now commanded by Commo- 
dore John K. ]\Iitchell; General Johnson K. Duncan com- 
manded at the forts, and ]\Iajor General Mansfield Lovell was 
in command of the forces within the city. 

Farragut's Attack on New Orleans. The Confederates had 
not completed the defenses of New Orleans when the most 
powerful naval force that the 
United States had ever yet 
mustered bore down upon the 
city. In February, 1862, the 
expedition sailed from Hamp- 
ton Roads. Admiral Farra- 
gut was in command of the 
fleet, which consisted of forty- 
seven armed vessels, eight of 
which were powerful sloops 
of war.^ Captain David D. 
Porter commanded the mortar 
boats accompanying Farra- 
gut's fleet, and General B. F. 
Butler was in command of 
troops to the number of about 
fifteen thousand to be landed 
on Ship Island - until the 
navy could open up the river. On April 18 Farragut began 
the bombardment of the forts and continued it six days with- 
out effect. At last he determined to run his ships past the 
forts. Some of the gunboats on a dark night had run up to 
the forts and cut the chains to open the way for the vessels. 
At two o'clock on the morning of April 24, Farragut 
started up the rix'er. As soon as the Confederates surmised 
the purpose of the Union fleet, huge fires were lighted on the 

1 David G. Farragut was born in Tennessee, in 1801. He had been in 
the naval service since childhood. He was on the plucky little Essex in 
the War of 1812. When the \\'ar Between the States broke out he re- 
mained in the old service and won lasting fame by his capture of New 
Orleans. He died in 1870. 

- Ship Island had been taken the year before by a Federal fleet. 




ADMIRAL n.WID G. F.\RR.\GUT 



342 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

river banks aiid fire-rafts of pine-knots were sent down stream. 
The river was lighted up and the Federal vessels being plainly 
seen were fired upon again and again. It was a terrific scene. 
The little Confederate fleet was destroyed. At five o'clock in 
the morning Farragut's vessels were beyond the forts steaming 
up to New Orleans.^ On May i the city surrendered, but the 
inhabitants first destroyed an immense quantity of cotton which 
they burned to prevent it from falling into the hands of the en- 
emy. General Butler with his troops now entered the city and 
set up a military administration of the severest type, but the 
Confederates still held Vicksburg and Port Hudson on the Mis- 
sissippi which controlled the mouth of the Red River, and 
the vast supplies of corn and cattle that were necessary for 
the sustenance of their armies could still be brought from 
Texas and Arkansas. 

Pea Ridge and the Sibley Expedition. West of the Miss- 
issippi there was but little severe fighting in 1862. In March 
a battle was fought at Pea Ridge, or Elk Horn, near the north- 
western boundary of Arkansas.- The battle was desperate 
and bloody and the Confederate general, Ben McCulloch, was 
killed.^ General Earl Van Dorn, commander of the Confed- 
erate forces west of the Mississippi, then marched his troops 
eastward to join the army in Mississippi and Tennessee. For 
a time there were hardly any Confederate forces in Missouri 
and Arkansas, but a guerrilla warfare was waged with un- 
speakable bitterness and cruelty. 

Another trans-Mississippi movement was the Sibley expe- 
dition. Early in the war the Confederates had tried to gain 
control of New Mexico. In the winter of 1862 General H. 

1 The attack on New Orleans was the last engagement in which all- 
wooden vessels were used. 

- In this battle about thirty-five hundred Indians fought under Colonel 
Albert Pike on the Confederate side. Indians fought in several other 
minor engagements of the war. 

3 General Ben McCulloch was born in Tennessee, in 1811. He went to 
Texas during her war for independence, and fought in the battle of San 
Jacinto. He received the first commission issued to a civilian in the 
Confederate army. 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



343 



H. Sibley of the Confederate command, with a brigade of 
Texans, defeated the Federal troops under General Canby at 
\'^al Verde and then pushed on to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 
His advance was checked at Apache Canon and, not having 
a sufficient force to hold the territory, General Sibley retired 
to San Antonio. 

Bragg's Dash into Kentucky; Battle of Perryville. After 
the evacuation of Corinth, in May, by General Beauregard, 
General Braxton Bragg was put in command of the Confederate 
armies in the West. He slipped around the Union forces under 




CAMPAIGN AROUND rERKVVILl.E 



Buell and moved his troops to the important position of 
Chattanooga in southeastern Tennessee. Making this point 
a base of operations, Bragg planned the reconcjuest of Tennes- 
see and Kentucky. Already the daring cavalry raids of Mor- 
gan and Forrest had spread terror among the Union forces in 
these two states. They cut railroads, seized telegraph offices, 
carried off horses and mules by the thousands, and captured 
ammunition and troops. Bragg now moved his army north- 
ward in two divisions, one commanded by himself, headed for 



344 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Louisville and the other by General E. Kirby Smith who won 
a battle at Richmond, Kentucky. But Buell's army now moved 
northward along a shorter line and reached Louisville before 
Bragg. The Confederates turned about and as they moved 
southward swept the country for supplies. Buell followed and 
on October 8 the two armies met in an indecisive battle at 
Perryville. Bragg retreated to Chattanooga, while Buell took 
up his position at Nashville. 

Battles of luka and Corinth. General Halleck had been 
called to Washington to act as Lincoln's military adviser and as 
commander-in-chief of the Federal armies. Grant was now in 
command in the West and was holding Corinth. When Bragg 
moved northward into Kentucky, he left Generals Price and 
Van Dorn with a strong force in northern Mississippi to watch 
Grant. General Price seized luka. a village twenty miles south- 
east of Corinth, in September, and Grant sent an army under 
General William S. Rosecrans to dislodge him. The Confed- 
erates were forced back, but about two weeks later, on the 
third of October, the combined forces of Van Dorn and Price 
made an assault on Corinth, but after two days of desperate 
fighting they were driven back with great loss and retreated to 
Hollv Springs. Van Dorn was soon replaced by General John 
C. Pemberton. Grant was now left free to plan his campaign 
against Vicksburg. 

Battle of Murfreesboro, or Stone River. The Confederates, 
after their return from Kentucky, left their captured stores at 
Chattanooga and moved northwest to Murfreesboro, a town 
about forty miles from Nashville, where they went into winter 
quarters. After all their marching and countermarching the 
two armies were now face to face. General Rosecrans had 
taken General Buell's place at Nashville, and on the day after 
Christmas, 1862, with an army forty-seven thousand strong he 
marched against Bragg who had thirty-eight thousand men at 
Murfreesboro. This battle is sometimes called the Battle of 
Stone River, from a shallow stream which flowed between the 
two armies. It was a terrible conflict, lasting from December 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



345 



31, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Fully one- fourth of the men en- 
gaged on hoth sides were killed and the frightful carnage ranks 
the hattle as one of the hloodiest of modern times. ^ Neither 
side gained a victory. Bragg withdrew his men to Shelhyville 
and Tullahoma a few miles to the south and went into winter 
(juarters. Both armies now remained inactive for m;my 
months. 

The Merrimac's Work of Destruction. While the land 
forces were waging bloody campaigns in both the East and the 
West during the year 1862. the navy also was playing an impor- 




ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN TUl', MKKKIMAC ANH TIIK IMON'ITOR 

taut part. The naval battle at New Orleans has already been 
related, but the most remarkable of all naval fights, and the one 
destined to revolutionize sea fighting the world over, occurred 
in Hampton Roads on March 19, 1862. This was the duel 
of the ironclads, the Mcrrimac and the Monitor. Before the 
War Between the States ironclad vessels had played no part 
in naval warfare and it was reserved for the Confederacy to 
bring the first iron warship into use. In 1861, when the ship 

^ The Confederates lost ten thousand men while the Federals lost over 
thirteen thousand. 



'346 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



yards at Norfolk were abandoned by the Union forces, the 
steam frigate Merriniac was sunk to prevent her capture by the 
Confederates, but the vessel was raised and converted into an 
ironclad after the plan of Captain John M. Brooke.^ The 
ship was cut down to within three and one-half feet of the 
water line; a slanting roof covered with railroad iron 
formed her armor, and she carried ten guns. On March 8 




HAMFTON KOADS, HERE OCCURRED THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN IRONCLADS 



this queer-looking iron-bound monster, rechristened the Vir- 
ginia, steamed into Hampton Roads where several of the 
finest United States warships lay at anchor. She first tried 
her strength on the Ciiuiherland and made such a hole in her 
side that " a horse and cart might drive through " and the ves- 

^ Brooke had lieen associated with Commodore Maury when the latter 
was superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory. Both offered 
their services to the Confederacy upon the secession of their native state, 
Virginia. 



' TWO YEARS OF WAR 347 

sel quickly sank.^ The Congress was next attacked and de- 
stroyed, and other ships were put to flight. The Merrimac 
was practically uninjured in spite of the fact that one hundred 
guns from the fort had been centered upon her. Night came 
on, and terror and the Merrimac held sway in that beautiful 
Virginia harbor. 

The Merrimac and the Monitor. The Merrimac had planned 
to finish her work the next day, but a new antagonist appeared 
— another ironclad — the Monitor. The North had learned 
of the reconstruction of the Merrimac and had been making 
preparations to meet her with an ironclad. John Ericsson, the 
Swedish inventor, then in New York, built a vessel on a plan 
of his own. The top was low and flat, and on the deck was 
a strong tower, or turret, holding two of the most powerful 
guns then known. On the morning of March 9, the Mon- 
itor, looking very much like a " cheese box on a raft," steamed 
into Hampton Roads and engaged the Merrimac in a deadly 
duel. For four hours the combat raged, neither vessel seeming 
to make much impression upon the other; although the little 
Monitor soon sought the protection of the guns of the fort and 
withdrew into shallow water whither the Merrimac could not 
follow. Later, when the Confederates abandoned Norfolk, 
the Merrimac was destroyed because she was of too deep draft 
to ascend the James River. 

Other Naval Operations. The blockade of the southern 
])orts was consideral)ly strengthened during the year of 1862. 
The United States were steadily increasing their navy and the 
capture of Confederate harbors decreased the numl)er of places 
to be guarded. In the fall and early winter of 1862 Galveston 
was in the hands of the Federals, but was recaptured in Jan- 
uary, 1863, by General Magruder. At the end of 1862 Charles- 
ton and Wilmington were almost the only important points 
along the Atlantic held by the Confederacy. Agents of the 
Confederate government in England built and armed two fast 
sailing steamers, the Alabama and the Florida; these vessels 

^ See Longfellow's poem, The Cumberland. 



348 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

and others did serious damage to northern commerce. The 
record of the Alabama commanded by Admiral Raphael 
Semmes was marvelous. She swept every sea in search of her 
prey and made the United States flag a rare sight. 

The Peninsula Campaign. The first movement in the East 
was the peninsula campaign. By March, 1862, the Army of 
the Potomac, which had been stationed in the forts around 
Washington and which had been thoroughly drilled and dis- 
ciplined, was eager to be led " on to Richmond." ^ General 
Joseph E. Johnston, with a very much smaller army, was still 
at Manassas guarding the approach to the Confederate capital. 
General McClellan thought that the number of parallel rivers 
between Washington and Richmond and the swampy nature of 
a large part of the ground made that means of approach to the 
Confederate capital exceedingly difficult. He decided that the 
best line of advance was up the old Revolutionary fighting 
ground between the York and the James rivers. But he had 
to protect the Federal capital lest the Confederates make a dash 
at Washington.^ General N. P. Banks was stationed in the 
Shenandoah valley and General McDowell was left at Freder- 
icksburg in front of Washington, but the latter was to rejoin 
McClellan as soon as the Confederates concentrated around 
Richmond. 

Yorktown, Williamsburg, and Seven Pines, As McClellan, 
with more than one hundred thousand men, moved to Fortress 
Monroe, Johnston moved from Manassas to the peninsula. 

1 General George B. McClellan was born in Philadelphia, in 1826. He 
was graduated at West Point in 1846. He' held the rank of lieutenant 
in the Mexican War and served with distinction. His successful cam- 
paign in West Virginia won for him the position of commanding general 
in 1861. He was an expert in military methods and rendered excellent 
service in training the army of the Potomac. He was slow in action and 
very cautious, and this quality not suiting the administration, in 1862 
he was removed. McClellan's soldiers and officers had great confidence 
in him and great affection for him. To them he was " Little Mac." He 
ran for the Presidency on the Democratic ticket in 1864, but was defeated. 
He died in 1885. 

- The protection of the capital is always an important matter in time 
of war. General Lee once made the statement that he had " a crick in 
his neck from always having to look back over his shoulder at Richmond." 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 



349 



McClellan spent a month in the siege of Yorktown and early in 
]\Iay the Confederates evacuated the place and dropped back 
to Williamsburg where there was an indecisive engagement.^ 
McClellan's slow advance w^as of great value to the Confed- 
erates, for they employed the time in strengthening the forti- 
fications of Richmond. The Federal gunboats, escorted by 
the Monitor, came up the James and threatened Richmond from 
the river as McClellan slowly con- 
tinued his advance until he reached 
the Chickahominy. At this point 
McDowell was ordered to reen force 
him and, in order not to leave Wash- 
ington exposed, McClellan threw 
only a part of his army across the 
river. But McDowell did not come, 
and General Johnston, quick to take 
advantage of McClellan's weak po- 
sition, made an attack at Seven Pines 
or Fair Oaks, just about seven miles 
from Richmond. On the first day 
of the battle the advantage was with 
the Confederates, but Johnston was 
struck dow'n and totally disabled. 
The next day General Robert Ed- 
ward Lee, who had been acting as military adviser to Presi- 
dent Davis, succeeded to the command, but at the close of the 
battle neither side had gained a decided advantage. Now, how- 
ever, the " greatest general that the English-speal<ing peoples 

1 Major Robert Stiles tells in his Four Years Under Marse Robert 
of " those greatest of all soldiers, the Texas brigade." " I question," 
he says, " whether any body of troops ever received such a compliment 
as General Lee paid them in his letter to Senator Wigfall written later 
in the war. in which he asked him, if possible, to go to Texas and raise 
another such brigade for his army. He said that the efficiency of the 
Army of Northern Virginia would thereby be increased to an incalculable 
extent, and that he would be relieved of the unpleasant necessity of 
calling on this one brigade so often in critical junctures." The Texans 
helped to fight back McClellan in the peninsula campaign. 




GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE 



350 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

have produced " was at the head of the Confederate Army of 
Northern X'irginia, and soon the world rang with his fame.^ 

Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. As JNIcClellan 
moved up the peninsula, General Jackson had cleared the 
Shenandoah valley of Federal troops and even threatened 
the northern capital. Jackson prevented Fremont, who was 
guarding the passes into West Virginia, from reenforcing 
Banks and defeated him at Winchester.^ Washington was 
frightened at this near approach of the " Wizard of the Shen- 
andoah " and Lincoln called ]\IcDowell with his forty thou- 
sand men from Fredericksburg to protect the capital. Jack- 
son, with his bare twenty thousand men, kept McDowell, Banks, 
and Fremont apart and at the critical moment prevented re- 
enforcements from reaching McClellan. Leaving his oppo- 
nents scattered in the mountains, Jackson turned with light- 
ning-like rapidity southward to Richmond. Within a month 
the " foot cavalry " had marched upwards of four hundred 
miles, fought many battles, winning them all, and routed three 
armies. This valley campaign ranks as one of the most bril- 

1 Robert Edward Lee, the son of " Light Horse Harry," of Re\T)lu- 
tionary days, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1807. An- 
drew Jackson secured him an appointment to West Point, and in 1829 he 
was graduated from this institution. He was with Scott in the Mexican 
War in the famous march upon Mexico City, and was three times brevetted 
for distinguished services. From 1S52 to 1855 he was superintendent of 
the L'nited States Mihtary Academy at West Point, and later served as 
lieutenant-colonel of the Second Cavalry in Texas. He went with his 
state when she seceded, and his life is bound up in that of the Confederacy. 
Impartial critics rank him as America's greatest general. He died in 
1870. 

- General Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born, in 1824, at Clarksburg. 
Virginia. Graduating from West Point in 1846, he served in the Mexican 
War as second-lieutenant of the First Artillery; but disliking war he re- 
signed from the army in 1857, and became a teacher in the Lexington 
Military Institute. At the outbreak of the War Between the States. Jack- 
son was commissioned a colonel in command of Virginia troops; in Sep- 
tember, 1861, he was made major-general. Jackson was a silent man of 
deeply religious nature and when he remained long at prayer his men 
knew that a great battle was pending. He was one of the greatest com- 
manders of modern times, and was reckoned as the ablest of Lee's lieu- 
tenants. As a result of a wound received at Chancellorsville, he died 
May ID, 1863. 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 351 

liant in all history and it showed Jackson to he a marvelous 
master of military strategy. ^ 

Seven Days Fighting Before Richmond. To aid [ackson 
in his advance toward Richmond, Lee sent General J. E. B. 
Stuart, a daring cavalry leader, around McClellan's army to 
prevent McDowell from reenforcing him. Together Lee and 
Jackson forced McClellan hack to the James with continuous 
fighting for seven days, from June 25 to July i. The first 
of the seven-days' battles was at Mechanicsville, and the result 
was indecisive, although the advantage was with the Feder- 
als. The next day, June 27, the two armies met at Gaines's 
Mill not far from Cold Harbor, and Lee won the vic- 
tory. McClellan now united his armies on the south side 
of the Chickahominy and began an orderly retreat to the 
James, where he would be protected by the Federal gunboats. 
The Confederates attacked the retreating army at White Oak 
Swamp, Savage Station, and Frazier's Farm. On the night of 
June 30 McClellan took up his position at Malvern Hill under 
the protection of his gunboats, and here, on the next day, Lee 
attacked him, but was driven back with heavy loss. This was 
the only decisive Union victory during the campaign. Mc- 
Clellan continued his retreat to Harrison's Landing on the 
James, and the movement upon Richmond by the way of the 
peninsula was a failure. - 

Second Battle of Manassas. In the North there was in- 
tense feeling of discouragement, and a call was issued for 
more volunteers. Lincoln took two successful generals from 
the West. General Halleck, as previously related, was made 
the President's military adviser and the commander-in-chief 
of all the Federal armies ; General John Pope was put in 
command of the L^nion forces around Washington-'* — the de- 

1 Jackson's valley campaign is studied in military schools on account of 
the great results achieved with small means. 

-The loss of the Confederates during the campaign was ahout nineteen 
thousand, while the Federals lost about sixteen thousand. 

2 General Pope had distinguished himself in the West by the capture 
of New Madrid and Island No. 10, Confederate fortifications on the 
Mississippi. 



352 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



feated armies of Banks and Fremont uniting with McDowell's 
— and to Pope was entrusted the task of going " on to Rich- 
mond." He chose the way that had been tried in 1861. Mc- 
Clellan had not yet left the peninsula, and Lee could not leave 




FIELD OF OPERATIONS DURING THE SEVEN-DAYS FIGHTING 



Richmond unprotected from that side, but he sent Jackson 
northward with about twelve thousand men to retard the ad- 
vance of Pope. Jackson defeated the right wing of Pope's 
amiy at Cedar Run. As soon as McClellan's men were em- 
barked for Washington, Lee moved northward and united 
with Jackson, and on the old battle ground of Manassas they 
attacked Pope, who had received reenforcements from the 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 353 

Army of the Potomac.^ Pope's army was driven from the 
field, and for the second time victory smiled upon the Con- 
federates at Bull Run.- Within three months Lee had cleared 
Virginia of two hundred thousand troops, though he had 
fewer than half that numher. 

Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg. It was thought that a 
victory on northern soil would hasten peace, and General Lee 
now decided to take the war into the enemy's country. The 
Confederate army needed supplies, and an invasion of the 
North would postpone Federal attacks in Virginia, and give 
that state an opportunity for recuperation. Lee's ragged and 
bare-footed veterans marched northward, singing Maryland, 
My Maryland.^ At Frederick City Lee divided his army and 
sent Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry, in order to keep open 
his line of communications.^ This divided condition of Lee's 
army was discovered by McClellan, who was again in command 
of the Army of the Potomac, which position he had lost after 
his return from the peninsula campaign. McClellan moved 
rapidly northward to protect Washington and Baltimore, and 
forced Lee to turn to the West. The two armies met at 
Antietam Creek, in western Maryland, near the town of 
Sharpsburg. By the time the battle began Jackson was re- 
united with Lee, but even then the Confederates had fewer 
than fifty thousand to match the LTnion army of more than 
eighty thousand. September 17. the day of the battle, has 
been called the bloodiest in American history. The carnage 
was frightful, and each side left many thousands of dead upon 
the battlefield. It was clearly a drawn battle, as Lee remained 

1 General J. E. B. Stuart and his cavalry did valiant service in this 
campaign. At one time he entirely cut Pope off from his base of sup- 
plies at Manassas and captured his private papers. 

- After this battle the Southern Cross was used as the battle flag of 
the Confederacy, instead of the Stars and Bars. 

3 The Confederates had expected a warm reception by the Marylanders, 
but they were disappointed as they had entered a part of the state where 
the Union sentiment predominated. 

* Lee had to live on the country in this campaign. He was_ willing 
to pay for his supplies, but the people were not eager to part with their 
goods in exchange for Confederate paper money. 



354 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

in possession of the field all next day, and his army re-crossed 
the Potomac and retired into Virginia with McClellan slowly 
following. 

The Battle of Fredericksburg. Again McClellan was super- 
seded in the command, this time by General i\mbrose E. Burn- 
side. The new commander now moved rapidly southward to 
the Rappahannock with the purpose of getting between the 
Confederate army and Richmond, but Lee was too quick for 
him, and Burnside found him on the southern side of the 
river fortified on the hills of Fredericksburg. Burnside 
crossed the river on December 30, and stormed the Confed- 
erate position. Lee's center on jMary's Heights was crowned 
with artillery, and Burnside tried to take this impregnable po- 
sition. The attack was a failure and the Federal dead lay in 
heaps at the foot of the hill. There was nothing indecisive 
about this battle. General Burnside was relieved of the com- 
mand, and General Joseph Hooker — " Fighting Joe Hooker," 
the soldiers called him — was assigned to the place. There 
was a pause in this deadly fighting in Virginia until spring. 

Summary of the Events of 1862. Thus the year 1862 closed 
with desperate fighting in the East. Li the West it will be 
recalled there was a battle at Alurfreesboro on the very last 
day of the year. In that section the North had gained; the 
Confederate line of defense had been pushed into Mississippi, 
and the whole of the great river was in the hands of the 
Federals, except Port Hudson and Vicksburg. The offen- 
sive movements of the Confederates, Bragg's dash into Ken- 
tucky and Lee's campaign into Maryland, had been beaten 
back. The blockade was growing more and more effective, 
and the Confederacy was beginning to suffer for the necessaries 
of life. But it seemed that the war was to be won or lost in 
\^irginia, and here the fortunes of the North were at a low 
ebb. Her best army had not yet won a brilliant victory, but 
had gone down time and time again in defeat. After the 
campaigns of 1862 there was increasing discontent throughout 
the North. To replenish the armies by volunteers became 



TWO YEARS OF WAR 355 

more and more difficult, and soon the United States govern- 
ment liad to resort to conscription and the draft.^ The Con- 
federates also found it impossible to fill up the ranks with 
volunteers alone and their Congress passed conscription acts 
recjuiring able-bodied citizens between certain ages to serve in 
the army. 

Emancipation Proclamation. At the outbreak of the war, 
in spite of urgent and continued appeals of the abolitionists, 
Lincoln took no action in the matter of the abolition of slavery. 
He said in his inaugural address : " I have no purpose di- 
rectlv or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery 
in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right 
to do so; and I have no inclination to do so." His first call 
for volunteers was to preserve the Union and enforce its laws 
in the seceded states. Lincoln had a clear understanding of 
public sentiment, and he realized that most of the people in 
the North would bitterly oppose war for the abolition of 
slavery. The action of Federal officers early in the war, in 
emancipating slaves in the territory they overran was 
l)romptlv checked.- But the magnitude of the war with its 
slow and stubborn movement was filling the North with dis- 
may, and the feeling in favor of abolition had gradually 
grown stronger. No one realized more fully than Lincoln 
did that the Federal victories in the West were more than 
offset by the gloomy failure of the Army of the Potomac in 
the East. The brilliant victories of the South, the skill of 
her leaders in making an army and a nation, challenged the 
admiration of foreign countries and it seemed as if the Con- 
federacy would gain the recognition she so much desired. 
Lincoln realized that the danger of foreign recognition must 

1 On account of the disaffection over the military disasters in the East 
Lincohi, in 1862, issued an order suspending the writ of habeas corpus. 
This enabled the military authorities to seize and imprison without trial. 
In consequence of this act, large numliers of people were arrested and 
imjjrisoned. 

- Butler had done this at Fortress Monroe and New Orleans, and 
Fremont had done it in Missouri. Butler had declared the slaves to be 
contraband of war just as any other property. The negroes thereafter 
were called " contraband." 



35^ STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

be averted, and that something must be done to arouse the 
flagging zeal of the North. After the battle of Antietam. 
which he regarded as a Union victory. Lincoln promulgated 
his new policy with reference to sla\ery. September 22 he 
issued a proclamation declaring that unless the southern states 
should return to their allegiance to the United States by Jan- 
uary I. 1863. he would declare the slaves within their limits 
free. This proclamation did not apply to the slaveholding 
states that had adhered to the Union, The purpose was to 
transform the struggle in the eyes of the world from a polit- 
ical to a moral issue ; to represent the war against the South, 
not as a war waged against states lighting for independence, 
but as a struggle against states lighting for the maintenance of 
slavery. Lincoln regarded this as a justifiable war measure to 
save the L^nion which he loved : and he hoped that it would put 
the South in the wrong in the eyes of the world, and prevent 
the foreign recognition which he dreaded. In the South no at- 
tention was paid to the preliminary proclamation or to the 
proclamation of emancipation which was issued January i. 
1863.^ The Federal commanders set free the negroes who 
fell into their hands in the conquered territory of the South, 
and many of these were enlisted in the Federal service. But 
the great majority of the negroes remained quietly and faith- 
fully at work on the plantations. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. Why was the blockade of southern ports at first inefYective? 2. Why 
was possession of the Mississippi River vital to the South? 3. What 
caused the complete rout of the Federals at Manassas? 4. What made 
the war in the border states of Missouri and Kentucky especially terrible? 
5. What was the attitude of the British government towards the Confed- 
eracy? Of the English people? 6. Where did Grant get his reputation? 
7. What great General fell at Shiloh? 8. What was the effect of the 
Monitor-]\lerrimac fight upon naval warfare? 9. Describe the government 
of New Orleans after its capture. 

1 In the midst of the war. General Lee freed all the slaves on his estate 
in accordance with the Custis will made in 1857. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 

The year 1S63. opened with the Federal armies in the West 
concentrating' their efforts upon the two important points of 
Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and in the East preparing to take 
lip again the movement against Richmond. After Fredericks- 
burg, both the Federal and the Confederate forces went into 
winter quarters, and, except for a few cavalry raids, there was 
inaction until spring. General Lee spent the time in pathetic 
and futile attempts to secure supplies for his hungry and ill- 
clad men. 

The Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring, when it was 
found that Hooker was preparing to cross the Rappahannock 
with an army of more than one hundred and thirty thousand 
men, and move on to Richmond, " Marse Robert " ^ and his 
ragged regiments sprang into new life. On the first of May 
the two armies met at Chancellorsville on the edge of the 
Wilderness. Hooker had every advantage in position and 
numbers and in the confidence of his men, but he was out- 
maneuvered at every turn by Lee and Jackson. Hooker 
sent ten thousand cavalry around to the rear of Lee's army 
to cut him off from his supplies and from retreat. General 
Sedgewick was left at Fredericksburg to attack Lee's right, 
while the main division of Hooker's army, over seventy thou- 
sand strong, was massed against the Confederate left. Against 
this formidable array, Lee could muster only about fifty-three 
thousand men. General Stuart, with a detachment of cavalry, 
was sent to protect his supplies; Jackson and his " foot cav- 
alry " were sent upon a swift and stealthy march of fifteen 

^ General Lee's troops often affectionately called him " Marse Robert." 

357 



35S STUDENT S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

miles to fall on Hooker's right wing, while Lee with a third 
of his army engaged Hooker's front. Jackson's troops were 
discovered while on the march, but the Federals thought that 
they were retreating, and when they fell upon Hooker's army 
on the evening of the second of May, the Federal forces were 
panic-stricken. Thousands of them were slain and the others 
fled from the field. But the victory was purchased at a dear 
cost. Stonewall Jackson rode out in the darkness with his 
stall to view the gTOund and plan another attack. They were 
taken for Union horsemen and were fired upon by the Con- 
federates, and Jackson was mortally wounded. On the third 
of May the fight was resvmied. with General J. E. B. Stuart 
leading the famous " Stonewall corps," and they rushed 
into the fight with " Charge and remember Jackson " for a 
battle cry. The impetuous rush of the Confederates swept 
everything before them, and Hooker's army was driven from 
the field. On the fourth a portion of Lee's army, imder Gen- 
eral Tubal A. Early, defeated the Federal army left at Fred- 
ericksburg under Sedgewick. On the morning oi the sixth 
of May Lee found that Hooker had used the stormy night 
to cross the Rappahannock and escape. Thus ended the bat- 
tle of Chancellorsville ; "the finest army on the planet" had 
gone down in crushing defeat, and Lee had won a place among 
the greatest commanders of history.^ The campaign had cost 
the Federals more than seventeen thousand men. while the 
Confederates lost about twelve thousand.- 

Death of Jackson. Chancellorsville was the worst defeat of 
cither army during -the war, but it cost the South the life 
which, after Lee's, it could perhaps the least spare. Stonewall 
Tackson was numbered among the dead, and there was none 
to fill his place. While he was sick unto death. Lee wrote 
him, saying, that for the good of his countr\- he would have 

1 Hooker had issued a bombastic proclamation, styling his forces " the 
finest anny on the planet." 

- At Chancellorsville. John Pelhani. the gallant K^y major from Alabama, 
was killed. See James Ryder Randalls poem. John Felham. 



THE WAR FROM 1S03 TO rUl-. END 



359 



chosen lo have been disabled in Jackson's stead. On the tenth 
of May he sank gently to rest with these beautiful words on 
his lips : " Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade 
of the trees." The loss of Albert Sidney Johnston and Stone- 
wall Jackson were sexere blows to the South. 

Second Invasion of the North. After the brilliant victory 




roSlTlONS A.Nll MOVEMENTS OF ARMIES, 1SO3 



at Chancellors\ille. (leneral l.ee. despite a lack o\ supplies, 
determined upon another imasion of the North. Leaxing 
General A. P. Hill to watch Hooker who was encamped north 
oi the Rappahannock, Lee. with an army of seventy thousand 
veterans, began his northward m.irch through the Shenandoah 
vallev. General Richard l^well and General Stuart led the ad- 



360 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

vance. At Winchester the Federal army, under Milroy, wag 
routed by Ewell, and Stuart's cavalry won a brilliant victory 
over General Pleasanton at Beverly Ford. Leaving General 
Stuart behind to guard the mountain passes, General Lee 
moved on northward through Maryland into Pennsylvania. 
The North was in consternation at the daring advance. 
Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia were threatened. 
Hooker, too, took up the northward march in order to protect 
the Federal capital, and was followed by Hill. Lee reached 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on June 26, and soon the Army 
of the Potomac was coming in pursuit with a new commander, 
General George G. Meade, who had succeeded Hooker.^ 

Battle of Gettysburg. Preliminary fighting began between 
the advance corps of the two armies, Ewell leading the Con- 
federates and General John F. Reynolds the Federals, and at 
the close of the day the advantage was with the Confederates.^ 
During the night each side brought up the remainder of its 
forces and marshalled them by the light of the moon. The 
armies, now facing each other, lay along two ranges of hills, 
the Federals on Cemetery Ridge and Gulp's Hill, and the 
Confederates on Seminary Ridge. ^ Between the two lines of 
hills and a little to the north lay the town of Gettysburg. The 
Confederates had planned for the battle to begin at sunrise 
when they were to seize the important hill, Round Top, com- 
manding the Federal position. But there was a delay, and 
when the battle commenced in the afternoon, the Federals held 
their ground against the Confederate assault.^ On July 3, 

^ General George Gordon Meade was born at Cadiz, Spain, in 1815. He 
was graduated at West Point in 1835, and served first under Taylor in 
the Mexican War, and afterwards under Scott. He served under Mc- 
Clellan in the peninsula campaign, and led divisions at Antietam, Fred- 
ericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was put in command of the Army 
of the Potomac in 1863, and held the position until the close of the war, 
serving under Grant tlie commander-in-chief in 1864 and 1865. General 
Meade died at Philadelphia in 1872. 

- General John F. Reynolds was killed in the action. 

3 Seminary Ridge was so called, because on this ridge there was a 
Lutheran theological seminary. 

•* See Bret Harte's poem, John Burns of Gettysburg. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 



361 



the tliird day of the battle, the Confederates made their last 
effort to gain the Union center. In the afternoon Pickett's 
division of Longstreet's corps, aided by other troops, fifteen 
thousand in all, rushed into the open and surged up the slope 
against the Union lines. In spite of the deadly work of the 
Federal batteries, and the great gaps in the Confederate lines, 




POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 



the advancing force swept onward into the very jaws of death. 
At last they reached the top of the hill, and brave Armistead 
planted his banner on the crest only to fall mortally wounded; 
but these daring soldiers in gray without reenforcements were 
soon overwhelmed by numbers, and were driven back by Gen- 
eral Winfield Scott Hancock and his veteran corps. The blood 
of many of America's noblest sons was shed on that terrible 
day. The charge of Pickett's men failed, and the battle was 



362 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

lost for the Confederates. Meade had lost twenty-three thou- 
sand of his one hundred thousand men engaged in the battle 
while of the men who wore the gray, twenty thousand found 
graves on the field of Gettysburg.^ The rapidly diminishing 
Confederate ranks were never filled again. Lee's ammunition 
was short and, fearing that his communications might be cut 
off, on July 5 he retired from the field and began his retreat 
across the Potomac. Meade's army followed, but was too 
shattered to venture another attack. The armies took up po- 
sitions again on the great battle-plain in central Virginia, and 
here they remained until Grant took command in the East. 

Early Efforts to take Vicksburg. In the West, too, the 
Confederates suffered great loss. At the close of 1862 the 
important and strongly fortified positions of Vicksburg and 
Port Hudson on the Mississippi and Chattanooga in south- 
eastern Tennessee were still held by the Confederates. Late 
in 1862 Grant had begun operations against Vicksburg. He 
made his base of supplies at Holly Springs in northern Missis- 
sippi, and started with his army down the east bank of the 
river, and General William T. Sherman, second in command 
in the West, was to descend the river from Memphis in order 
to cooperate with him. But this plan was a complete failure. 
General Van Dorn swept down upon Holly Springs, destroying 
Grant's supplies to the value of half a million dollars, and 
capturing the garrison ; while General Nathan B. Forrest made 
one of his daring cavalry raids, cutting telegraph lines and de- 
stroying sixty miles of railroad in Grant's rear. Thus Grant 
was stranded without means of communication with the out- 
side world. Meantime General Stephen D. Lee defeated Sher- 
man's forces at Chickasaw Bayou, just five miles from Vicks- 
burg, 

1 General Wilcox, who had advanced about tlie time of Pickett's repulse, 
and been speedily thrown back with loss, rode up to Lee and said with 
tears in his eyes, that his brigade was nearly destroyed. Lee, grasping 
his hand in a friendly manner, replied gently, " Never mind. General, all 
this has been my fault. It is I who have lost this fight, and you must 
help me out of it in the best way you can." 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 



363 



Siege of Vicksburg. Early in 1863 Grant renewed his ef- 
forts to take Vicksburg. General John C. Pemberton, who 
was in command in the city, had strengthened its fortifications, 
and General Joseph E. Johnston, having recovered from the 
wound received 
at Seven Pines, 
was now com- 
mander-in-chief in 
the West, and 
was collecting an 
army at Jackson, 
Mississippi. The 
town of Vicks- 
burg is strongly 
fortified by na- 
ture ; it is on a 
big bend in the 
river, and to the 
north are high 
overhanging 
bluffs, which make it almost impregnable from that side. 
Grant advanced down the river and tried to cut a canal 
across the narrow peninsula opposite Vicksburg so that he 
could transport his men and supplies. After two months' 
hard work this undertaking was abandoned, and on April i, 
Grant moved his army overland west of the Mississippi through 
the Louisiana swamps. At the same time the gunboats were 
to slip down the river to a point south of Vicksburg to ferry 
his army to the east side. The gunboats managed to get past 
the city, but it was a desperate task, for the river was illumi- 
nated by burning houses which the Confederates set afire, and 
the' batteries that crowned the bluffs sent a hail of shot upon the 
fleet. Grant's army was transported to the same side of the 
river as the city. Pie defeated the Confederate forces at 
Pert Gibson, and seized Grand Gulf, a strong position on the 
river, which the Confederates evacuated. Grant's army then 




GRANT S ROUTE TO VICKSBURG 



364 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

marched northeastward, subsisting on the country as it went. 
He routed Johnston's army of fifteen thousand and took Jack- 
son; he defeated Pemberton at Champion Hill and Big Black, 
and forced the Confederates within their fortifications. Twice 
he tried to take the city by direct assault and failed, and then 
with his army and that of Sherman, consisting of seventy- 
five thousand in all. he sat down to a siege to stars-e the city 
into surrender. The defense was heroic. The people of the 
city suffered terrible hardships ; caves were dug in the ground 
for the protection of the women and children to escape the 
deadly missiles that were constantly thrown into the city. Food 
grew scarcer every day — flour sold for ten dollars, and 
bacon for five dollars a pound ; mule meat was in demand and 
rats were sold in the butcher shops. The siege continued for 
six weeks, and starvation stared the city in the face. Finally, 
on July 4. 1863. the day before Lee began his retreat 
from Gettysburg. General Pemberton surrendered with thirty- 
two thousand men. This force could not be replaced. On 
July 9. Port Hudson, the only remaining Confederate strong- 
hold on the Mississippi, surrendered to General Banks who 
held New^ Orleans. The loss of ^^icksburg and the opening 
of the Mississippi was a severe blow to the South, as it cut the 
Confederacy in two. and in the future each part was compelled 
to fight for itself. 

Operations West of the Mississippi. In September, 1863. 
General Banks tried to break into Texas by the way of Sabine 
Pass, which controlled the railroad extending far into the in- 
terior of the state. But the Pass was so gallantly defended by 
Lieutenant Richard Dowling with forty-two Confederates, that 
the attempt ended in disaster.^ Early in 1864 General Banks 
again tried to break into Texas. This time he undertook to 
advance up Red River and capture Shreveport. and get into the 
state in that way, but he was severely defeated by General 

1 Two of the vessels were disabled and one Inmdred and fifty prisoners 
were taken by the Confederates. President Davis stated that the success 
of this little company and the bravery with which it defended the Pass 
were without parallel in ancient or modern warfare. 



THE WAR FROM 1S6-, TO THE END 



365 



Ricliard Taylor at Sabine Cross Roads, or Mansfield. At the 
same time an anny under General Steele moved southward 
from Arkansas to overrun Louisiana and Texas. General E. 
Kirby Smith, the Confederate commander west of the Missis- 
sippi, moved against the Federals and compelled them to re- 
treat to Little Rock. This was on April 30, 1S04. This 




ES ENO-R CO.. M.T. 



BATTLES OF THE RED RI\-ER EXPEPITIOX, 1864 

advance, under General Banks and General Steele, is known as 
the Red River Expedition. Later in the same year (1864), 
from August to September, General Sterling- Price, the Con- 
federate commander, made a rapid march through Arkansas 
and Missouri and threatened Saint Louis. He fought a great 
many skirmishes with the Federal troops in that region, and 
captured sexeral thousand prisoners. 



366 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Battle of Chickamauga. While Grant was besieging Vicks- 
burg, the Confederate and Federal armies in Tennessee, which 
had been inactive since the battle of Murfreesboro, were again 
in motion.^ In June General Rosecrans broke camp near 
Murfreesboro, and began moving southward toward Chat- 
tanooga, endeavoring to 
get an army around Bragg's 
so as to shut him up in 
the town and then besiege 
him. But Bragg slipped 
out and marched into 
northern Georgia with 
Rosecrans in pursuit. Bragg 
had been reen forced by 
men from Lee's army un- 
der General James Long- 
street, and he turned to 
strike. The two armies 
came together at a little 
creek called the " Chicka- 
mauga," an Lidian name 
meaning " river of death." 
Here on September 19 
and 20, a part of Rosecrans's army was swept from the 
field, and nothing but the coolness and firmness of the 
brave Federal officer, General George H. Thomas, saved the 
Union forces from a complete rout. General Thomas com- 
manded the left wing of the army; he rallied his men 
and for six hours he stood like a wall against the Confed- 
erate assault.- At nightfall he retreated from the field 

1 Before the opening of the campaign, Bragg sent General John H. 
Morgan with twenty-five hundred Confederate cavalry on a raid through 
Tennessee and Kentucky. Morgan crossed the Ohio and made a dash 
northward, spreading terror through town after town, and even threaten- 
ing Cincinnati, but he was finally captured with only a remnant of his 
men. Soon afterwards he escaped. Bragg had hoped that this raid would 
delay Rosecrans. 

- General George H. Thomas was bora in Virginia, in 1816. Like the 




GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 367 

and joined Rosecrans in Chattanooi^a. Thomas was known 
ever afterward as the " Rock of Chickaniauga." The Confed- 
erate loss in this battle was about eighteen thousand, and the 
h>deral loss ahnnl sixteen tliousa.nd.^ 

Siege of Chattanooga. Bragg placed his men on the heights 
of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain in northern 
Georgia commanding Chattanooga, and the tables were turned. 
Rosecrans was cooped up in the town and Bragg was be- 
sieging him. The siege lasted about two months, and Rose- 
crans's army was in danger of perishing. But relief came. 
Thomas superseded Rosecrans in command; Sherman came 
with the army that had taken Vicksburg; Hooker, too, 
came with a detachment from the Army of the Potomac, and 
General Grant came to direct the operations. Meantime Bragg 
had weakened his forces by sending Longstreet and his corps 
to oppose Burnside at Knoxville. The road by which sup- 
plies could reach the army within the city being opened,. Grant 
planned to take advantage of Bragg's weakened condition and 
make an attack. 

Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. On November 
23, 24, and 25, Grant's army of about eighty thousand 
men attacked Bragg's lofty position. On the twenty-third Or- 
chard Knob, Bragg's center, was captured. On the twenty- 
fourth Hooker drove the Confederates from Lookout Moun- 
tain. During the battle the mountain was enveloped in a dense 
mist, and the troops could not be seen in the valley below, so 
that the engagement on Lookout Mountain is often called the 
" battle above the clouds." On the third and last day the 
Confederates were driven from Missionary Ridge. Com- 
pelled to raise the siege, Bragg retreated to Dalton in northern 

great majority of commanders on both sides, he was a gradviate of West 
Point, and had seen service in the Indian wars and in the Mexican War. 
He fought in nearly every important engagement in the West. His skill 
in routing Hood at Nashville showed him to be one of the ablest generals 
on the Federal side. 

' It was after the battle of Chickamauga that the Confederate spy, Sam 
Davis, was captured and gave up his life rather than betray his mission. 
See Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem, Sam Davis, 



368 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Georgia. The loss of Chattanooga put the eastern part of 
Tennessee in the hands of the Federals and opened the way 
to Alabama. Georgia, and the Carolinas. Grant had dis- 
patched Sherman to the aid of Bumside at Knoxville. Long- 
street had already tried to take the place by storm, but had 
been repulsed and, upon Sherman's approach, he retired into 
Virginia. 

Cavalry Raids and Other Operations. During the closing 
months of 1S63 and the beginning of 1864, there was no 
reg\ilar campaign east of the Mississippi. But the coun- 
try was still threshed by the iron tlail of war. General Sher- 
man marched from Vicksburg. made an attack on ]Meridian. 

^lississippi, and Selma, Ala- 
bama, destroyed railroads, 
and cut telegraph lines in 
both states, thus preventing 
the Confederate army in 
northern Georgia from 
drawing supplies from that 
region. His plan was to 
attack }kIobile from the land 
side, but this was prevented 
by Forrest. Sherman's di- 
vision of cavalry under Gen- 
eral \\'. S. Smith was de- 
feated by the Confederate 
forces under General Nathan 
B. Forrest and driven back 
to Memphis.^ Forrest con- 
tinued his raid northward 
into Kentucky but was re- 
pulsed at Paducah. He turned into Tennessee and captured 
Fort Pillow, which w^as manned by negro soldiers.- The 

1 The cavalry is called the eyes and ears of an army. If such a force 
could get into the rear of an opposing army, it could inflict serious damage 
by tearing up railroads and destroying supplies. 

- General Nathan B. Forrest and General Stonewall Jackson are ranked 







CEXERAL W. T. SHERMAX 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 369 

Union forces tried to take Florida in February, 1864, but tbey 
were defeated at the Battle of Olnstee. 

Weakened Condition of the Confederacy. The Confeder- 
acy was growing" visibly weaker. It was only the marvelous 
devotion of her people that had made her slender resources 
hold out so long-. The soldiers were ill-fed and half-clad 
and poorly armed. Very often they had to depend upon tak- 
ing arms off the battlefields. Munitions of war from the 
first had been scarce and church bells and household articles, 
such as brass kettles, tongs, andirons, and sometimes precious 
heirlooms dating back to colonial days, were melted down 
and made into cannon. Toward the end of the war it was 
no uncommon thing to gather up the bullets from the battle- 
field and recast them. The South was one vast, prolonged 
Valley Forge. The blockade and the loss of the Mississippi, 
which cut the states of the East ofif from the supplies of the 
West, made even the barest necessities of life hard to obtain. 
It was almost impossible to get such a common thing as 
paper, and newspapers were often printed on scraps of wall 
paper. ^ Coffee was extremely scarce and people lived well 
on cornbread and " turnip greens." Thorns were often 
used for pins. Southern girls wore homespun dresses with 
chinquapins for buttons, and hats made of corn shucks, and 
the soldiers in the field were glad to get a pair of wooden- 
soled shoes. Confederate money was "not worth a con- 
tinental " ; a dollar bill had the purchasing power of only 
two -cents in gold. The South had fought brilliantly and undy- 
ing honors were hers, but she was becoming exhausted. 

Conditions in the North. The North knew no such priva- 
tion as was everybody's portion in the South ; her resources 

by some English military critics as the greatest soldiers, except Lee, in 
either army. When Sherman was making- his famons march to the sea, 
Forrest so interfered with his operations that he offered promotion to 
the general whose troops would slay or capture him. 

1 There was a law passed by the Confederate Congress forbidding the 
killing of sheep, in order that the wool might be used for clothing. Many 
people did without meat so that the wool could be preserved. 



Z70 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

were abundant. The war was costing her two million dollars 
a day, but there was ample wealth to draw from as her ports 
were open to the commerce of the world. The soldiers 
were well-fed, well-clothed, and well-armed. Associations 
were formed to care for the comfort of the men in the field, 
to provide hospitals, and to distribute food and medicines. 

Conscription; Draft Riots. As has been previously noted, 
both sides were compelled to resort to conscription. In the 
South, as the war continued, the age limit was extended. In 
the North military zeal and enthusiasm flagged as the war 
dragged on. A draft or conscription act was passed in May. 
1863, according to which names were drawn by lot from a list 
of able-bodied men; these were forced to serve or to hire a 
substitute. There was resistance to this act in many parts 
of the country, and New York City, in July, 1863, was for 
several days at the mercy of a determined mob. Troops 
were sent from Gettysburg to aid in putting down the " draft 
riot." The North also resorted to bounties to induce men to 
enlist.^ The South had brought very nearly her full fighting 
population into the field from the beginning of the war and her 
ranks had been terribly thinned by losses on the field and by 
disease. 

Exchange of Prisoners. There was another condition which 
further weakened the ranks of the gray. The exchange of 
prisoners had ceased. The South had always stood ready to 
exchange man for man, but at the beginning of the war the 
North refused, because such a measure would be a virtual 
recognition of the Confederacy as a belligerent power. Never- 
theless Union generals in the field often consented to an ex- 
change and in 1862 exchange became the rule. The South had 
always been hard pressed to care for her prisoners; she 
had not enough supplies for her own men in the field. 
For this reason Federal soldiers imprisoned in the South suf- 
fered greatly, particularly at Andersonville, a prison near 

^ A bounty was a bonus or a gift granted each man in addition to his 
regular pay. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 371 

Macon, Georgia.^ On the other hand, the |irisoners from the 
South suffered indignities in northern prisons and were ill-fed 
in the midst of plenty. Toward tiie close of the war the 
system of exchang'e ceased. The scnithcrn prisoners were 
vahiahle because their places were harder and harder to lill. 
owing to the drained population of the South. The North 
chose to allow her men to languish in smuhern prisons rather 
than to return soldiers to the Confederate army. ( leneral 
(irant said : ** It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons 
not to exchange them, hut it is humanity to those left in the 
ranks to fight our battles. Every man released on parole or 
otherwise becomes an active soldier against us at once either 
directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange 
which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on 
until the whole South is exterminated." 

The Final Campaign. By 18O4 both sides seemed to feel 
that the end was near. There were now but two chief Con- 
l"ederate armies in the field ; the Army of Northern \"irginia 
in the East, led by Lee. and the army in the West at Dalton, 
under Johnston who had superseded Bragg after the loss of 
Chattanooga. Grant was called from the West to be made 
cc>mmander-in-chief of all the Federal forces and to wrest vic- 
tor)- from Lee; with him came General Philip H. Sheridan, 
his best cavalry ofticer. Sherman was left in command of the 
armies of the West and was to begin a forward movement 
from Chattanooga to Atlanta and the southern seaboard. 
Grant and Sherman had agreed that the forward movement of 
the two armies should begin about the same time. 

Grant's Plan of Attack. Grant planned to move on to Rich- 
mond by the overland route from Washington, and he under- 
took to lead the advance himself. There were to be auxiliary 
movements: General Butler, with an army of thirty thousand, 
was sent up the James to Bermuda Hundred, a point near 

^ The Confederate authorities tried to make an arrangement by wliich 
medicine could be sent through the linos, and pledijed themselves to use 
sucli supplies only for the Union soldiers in their prisons, but the Union 
otBcials would not agree to it. 



372 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Petersburg, to attack Richmond from that direction; another 
army, under Generals Sigel and Hunter, was to go up the 
Shenandoah valley, take Lynchburg and threaten Richmond 
from the west. Under this plan, with overwhelming numbers 
to execute it, Grant resolved to *' hammer out " the Army of 
Northern Virginia and in so doing he turned the country 
from the Wilderness to the James into one vast bloody battle 
ground. 

Battle of the Wilderness. Lee's army had been keeping 
winter watch on the Rapidan. Never had the troops suffered 
greater privation than in that winter of 1863 and 1864. But 
they kept their spirits up if they could not keep their hunger 
down. In May, when the Army of the Potomac, numbering 
about one hundred and twenty thousand well-equipped men, 
began to move, Lee did not wait for an attack. With his 
sixty thousand tattered veterans he rushed suddenly and un- 
expectedly upon Grant in the " Wilderness " of thick wood and 
tangled undergrowth that stretched between the Rappahannock 
and the York and here for days the armies wrestled in a 
death grapple.^ Both sides suffered severe losses. Grant 
could be reenforced, but there was no way of filling the Con- 
federate lines. With grim determination and iron nerve, 
never faltering in his purpose. Grant wrote to Halleck : "I 
propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer." 

Fight at Spottsylvania Court House. Lee was forced 
slowly back by a flank movement of his opponent who threat- 
ened to cut off his communications with Richmond. Grant 
now moved toward Spottsylvania Court House, but he 
found Lee there ahead of him, and here, on the tenth 
of May, began another series of deadly assaults and recoils. 
General Lee, in one of the assaults when it looked as if the 
Confederates were suffering a complete disaster, rode out in 
front of the line bare-headed to lead his men; but the soldiers 

1 General Longstreet was dangerously wounded in the battle of the 
Wilderness, near the same spot where Jackson had been wounded the 
year before. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 373 

refused to advance. " Go back, General Lee ! Go back ! " 
thev shouted. " My Texas boys, you must charge," Lee cried ; 
but they answered " Go back ! " ^ A sergeant seized the bridle 
rein and led General Lee to the rear.- At a point known as 
the " Bloody Angle " the hand-to-hand fighting was fiercer than 
was ever known before in all the tide of war. While Grant 
was grappling with Lee at Spottsylvania, he sent General 
Sheridan on a cavalry raid around the Confederate army, 
and in a terrific fight on May 12, at Yellow Tavern, within 
seven miles of Richmond, General J. E. B. Stuart received his 
death wound. ^ General Wade Hampton of South Carolina 
succeeded him in command of the cavalry. 

Battle of Cold Harbor. Lee had held Grant well in check, 
but he had to continue to drop back in order to bar the way 
to Richmond. Finally the two armies reached the old penin- 
sula battle ground of 1862, and Lee took his stand at Cold 
Harbor, a strong position near the Chickahominy, from which 
Grant in a short and terrific battle tried to dislodge him.^ The 
battle lasted less than an hour and Grant lost thirteen thousand 
men while Lee lost hardly as many hundred. Grant had not 
gained his point of breaking through the Confederate lines and 
on June 12 he was forced to move his army south of the 
James, join Butler's forces, and reach Richmond by first 
taking Petersburg. Lee withdrew within his lines and united 
with General Beauregard who had been holding Butler in 
check at Bermuda Hundred. Grant was a great general, but 
he had encountered a greater. In the battles from the Wilder- 

^ Sec John R. Thompson's poem, Lee to the Rear. 

- It was men of Gregg's Texas brigade who recognized Lee and led him 
to the rear. 

3 General J. E. B. Stuart, commonly known as " Jeb " Stuart, was born 
in Virginia, in 1833. He was a captain in the United States army ; but, 
when his state seceded, he resigned, and was soon commissioned lieutenant- 
colonel of Virginia troops. He was made brigadier-general after his gal- 
lant service at the first battle of Bull Run. He was called the " Rupert 
of the Confederacy," so dashing and daring was he as a cavalry leader. 

* This is sometimes called the second battle of Cold Harbor; the battle 
of Gaines Mill being fought on almost the same spot. 



374 - STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

ness to Cold Harbor Grant lost as many men as Lee had in 
his whole army. 

Butler at Bermuda Hundred. The auxiliary movements 
which Grant liad planned against Richmond had been unsuc- 
cessful. Butler's army had come up the James and landed, 
but was unable to go farther because General Beauregard had 
erected fortifications across the narrow neck of land between 
the James and the Appomattox and had collected an army 
from the Carolinas to protect this gateway to Richmond. 

Early and Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. The Fed- 
eral forces, under Sigel and Hunter, were equally unsuccessful. 
General Breckenridge had defeated General Sigel at New- 
market.^ General Lee dispatched General Early with fifteen 
thousand troops to protect his communications, to clear 
the valley of Federal troops, and to distract Grant from Rich- 
mond, if possible, by threatening" Washington. Early defeated 
the Federals at Monocacy River, drove them into West Vir- 
ginia, and made a move toward Washington, but found it too 
strongly fortified to venture an attack. Early continued his 
movement into Pennsylvania, burned the town of Chambers- 
burg, and prepared to join Lee with supplies. Grant, seeing 
the danger in the Shenandoah, sent Sheridan with forty thou- 
sand men to drive Early out and lay waste the valley. Early's 
army was weakened and Sheridan defeated him near Win- 
chester and again at Fisher's Hill, and forced him to retreat 
up the valley. Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah was 
waged chiefly for the destruction of property. He made a 
famous raid down the valley, obliterating the growing crops, 
and turned the beautiful country into a desolate waste. Early's 
army turned and made one more attempt to recover the valley. 
Li the early morning the Confederates crept upon the Federals 
at Cedar Creek and defeated them. Sheridan was absent from 
his command at Winchester on his way to Washington, but 
he hurried back to the battlefield and his men regained the 

1 In this battle the students of the Virginia Military Institute took the 
field and fought with great bravery. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 375 

ground they had lost.^ This closed the war in the Shenandoah 
valley. 

Siege of Richmond ; Battle of the Crater. In the meantime 
Grant had found that the fortifications of Richmond and Peters- 
burg were too strong to be taken by assault. On July 30, 
the Federals exploded a mine under one of the Confederate 
forts and as the Federal batteries commenced a rapid firing, 
the troops rushed forward to get within the Confederate lines 
through this break. An opening one hundred and fifty feet 
long, sixty feet wide, and thirty feet deep was made, and as 
the Union troops rushed forward they were met by a scathing 
fire from the Confederates. In this battle of the Crater, the 
Federals had many killed and wounded and several thou- 
sand of them were taken prisoners. The Confederate fortifi- 
cations were laid in an irregular curve from below Petersburg 
around to the north of Richmond, a distance of thirty miles, 
and to defend this long line Lee had at the outside sixty 
thousand men. Before him was Grant with twice as many. 
Thus situated the armies stood for nine months. 

Sherman's March through Georgia. About the same time 
that Grant laid siege to Richmond, Sherman^ was preparing to 
make his march to the sea. He had an army of over one 
hundred thousand men, while Johnston's force numbered 
hardly sixty thousand. But Johnston's plan was to avoid bat- 
tle as much as possible and weaken Sherman by striking and 
retreating. Sherman's object was to reach the seaboard, cap- 
ture Johnston's army, or keep it busy so as to leave Grant 
free before Richmond. In May Sherman moved from Chat- 
tanooga and attacked the Confederate works at Dalton, but 

^ See Thomas Buchanan Read's poem, Sheridan's Ride. 

2 General William Tecunisch Sherman was born in Ohio, in 1820. He 
was a graduate of West Point, but after serving in the Seminole and 
Mexican Wars, he resigned and went into business. At the outbreak of 
the war, he was superintendent of a military college in Louisiana. He 
went North, entered the Federal army, and commanded a brigade at 
Bull Run. His chief service, however, was in the West where he had 
entire charge when Grant went cast in 1864. He ranks with Grant as one 
of the greatest generals on the Union side. He died in 1891. 



376 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



to no effect. He then moved his army to the rear of John- 
ston and forced him to retreat to Resaca, and after heavy fight- 
ing for two days Johnston had to move southward toward 
Dallas. Near this point, at New Hope Church, the armies 
met again and the Federals suffered a decided defeat. Next 
Johnston strongly entrenched himself at Kenesaw Mountain, 
which Shemian tried to take by assault but utterly failed. In 
July Johnston retired into Atlanta, which he strongly forti- 
fied in the hope of holding it; Sherman, meantime, marched on 
into Georgia, living on the countiy and 
spreading ruin wherever he went. John- 
ston had made a brilliant retreat which 
showed him to be one of the greatest of 
the Confederate masters of warfare.^ 
He had not risked a battle except where 
his smaller numbers could fight to advan- 
tage and he had inflicted heavy losses on 
the enemy.^ 

Fall of Atlanta. But there was great 
dissatisfaction with Johnston because he 
had not checked the " advance of the 
enemy " and because he had abandoned 
such a rich part of Georgia. He was removed and General 
John B. Hood ^ of Texas was put in command. Hood imme- 

1 General Joseph E. Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807. His father 
served under " Light Horse Harry " Lee and his mother was a niece of 
Patrick Henry. In 1825 Johnston entered West Point with nine other 
young Virginians, among them Robert E. Lee, who became his life-long 
friend. Johnston fought in several Indian wars, and was with Scott in 
Mexico. In 1861, upon the secession of Virginia, he resigned his com- 
mission in the United States Army and was soon made a general in the 
Confederate Army. At the battle of Manassas, he personally led a charge 
with the colors of the fourth Alabama regiment in his hands. After being 
wounded at Seven Pines, he was not fit for active service until late in 1862 
when he was put in command in the West. His retreat before Sherman 
was one of the most skillful and successful ever executed in all the history 
of war. After the war he served Virginia in Congress. He was one of 
the pall-bearers at the funeral of General Grant and later at that of Gen- 
eral Sherman. He died in 1891 at Washington, D. C. 

- See Ticknor's beautiful poem, Little Giffcn of Tennessee. 

^John B. Hood was born in Kentucky, in 1831, He was a graduate 




GENERAL JOHN B. HOOD 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 



Z77 



diately offered battle and by the end of July he had fought 
three battles around the city — at Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, 
and Ezra Church. Sherman was now regularly besieging At- 
lanta. Finally Hood decided that the place could not be held ; 
he destroyed the supplies which he found it impossible to re- 
move, blew up the magazines, and marched out. Sherman 
sent this message to Washington : " Atlanta is ours and fairly 
won. Since the fifth of May we have been in one continual 
battle and need rest." Sherman hacf promised that the lives 
and property of non-combatants should be respected. The fall 
of Atlanta was a terrible blow to the Confederacy.^ 

Battles of Franklin and Nashville. General Hood now with- 




ROUTE OF SHERMAN S MARCH TO THE SEA 



drew northward toward Tennessee in the hope that Sherman 
would follow and thus the seaboard of the Confederacy would 
be undisturbed. But Sherman had plenty of men and sent 

of West Point. When his state did not secede, he went to Texas and led 
a Texas brigade in the peninsula campaign. He fought in the West under 
Bragg at Chickamauga, and commanded a corps under Johnston in the 
retreat before Sherman. He superseded Johnston in 1864. He died in 
1881, in New Orleans. 

^ Atlanta was then a small town, but it contained shops for the manu- 
facture of arms, which were greatly needed by the Confederates, 



37^ STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

General George H. Thomas after Hood, while he persevered 
in his main purpose of marching to the sea. Hood met a 
portion of Thomas's army at Franklin, where a bloody battle 
was fought, and he then moved to the northwest. On De- 
cember 15 and 16 Thomas attacked him at Nashville and 
defeated him. Hood's already depleted army was so shat- 
tered and weakened that never again was it an effective fight- 
ing force. 

March to the Sea; Fall of Savannah. On November 15 
Sherman started on his • famous march to the sea. Before 
evacuating Atlanta he burned the town and destroyed every- 
thing. The Federal army marched through the country, 
spreading out for a distance of sixty miles. Everything that 
could be used was taken by the soldiers and what they could not 
use they destroyed. General Sherman justified his policy upon 
the theory that the quickest way to end the war was to lay the 
country in waste. There was practically no resistance to this 
vast confiscating horde, for the only available troops at the 
time were a few Georgia militia and a body of cavalry under 
General Joseph Wheeler. By December the Federal army 
had reached Savannah. General William Hardee, wdio was in 
command, knew that he could not successfully defend the city 
and abandoned it on December 21. Sherman sent this mes- 
sage to President Lincoln : " I beg to present, as a Christmas 
gift, the city of Savannah with one hundred and fifty heavy 
guns, plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand 
bales of cotton." 

Coast Operations. By the end of 1864 no seaport of im- 
portance remained to the Confederacy except Charleston, South 
Carolina. In August, 1864, Admiral Farragut -had overcome 
the small Confederate fleet and captured the forts controlling 
the entrance to Mobile Bay.^ While Sherman was still at 
Savannah the Federals attacked Fort Fisher, which guarded 
the city of Wilmington, and this fort also was lost. In the 
same year the most famous of the Confederate cruisers, the 

1 The city of Mobile was not surrendered until April, 1865. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 379 

Alabama, commanded by Admiral Raphael Semmes, was en- 
gaged in a battle with the United States' war vessel Kearsarge 
seven miles off Cherbourg, France, and was sunk. One by- 
one the vessels of the little Confederate navy were captured 
or destroyed.^ 

Campaign in the Carolinas. Late in January, 1865, Sher- 
man's anny, singing John Brozvn's Body, crossed the Sa- 
vannah River and entered South Carolina. The plan was 
for Sherman to move northward and unite with Grant. The 
Federal army seemed filled with the desire to wreak vengeance 
on the state that had first withdrawn from the Union, and ruin 
marked every foot of the advance. Columbia surrendered 
to the enemy and was burned. As Sherman advanced the 
small Confederate garrison in Charlestoc and other coast towns 
hurried to join Johnston who had been reinstated in command 
and was trying to assemble an army to resist the invaders. By 
March 20, 1865, Sherman was at Goldsboro, North Carolina, 
and Grant was at Petersburg, just one hundred and fifty miles 
away. So far- Sherman had met with little resistance ; the 
principal difficulty in his march had been the winter rains and 
swollen rivers and swamps. Johnston attacked him at Ben- 
tonville, near Goldsboro, and for some time the battle was 
doubtful, but Sherman finally drove the Confederates back. 
Both armies waited in North Carolina for the result of oper- 
ations in Virginia. 

Battle of Five Forks. The siege of Richmond was long 
and weary. Grant's strong force and his ample supplies 
rendered his ultimate victory certain. He extended his lines 
farther and farther to the southwest in order to cut off Lee's 
supplies that came by way of the railroad going into Peters- 

1 The Shenandoah, next to the .-llabania, was the Confederate cruiser 
that inflicted the most damage on Northern commerce. Her crew was 
capturing United States whaling vessels in Bering Sea three months after 
the fall of the Confederacy. The Florida, another Confederate cruiser, 
was captured by a United. States vessel in a port of Brazil. As this 
country was neutral, the proceeding was contrary to the customs of war- 
fare. Brazil protested, but before any steps could be taken in the matter, 
the vessel was sunk in Hampton Roads, having collided with a United 
States vessel. 



380 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

burt;" from that direction. Lee struck one last blow in the hope 
of delaying the seizure of this position. General John B. Gor- 
don of Georgia made an assault upon the Federal fortification 
known as h\M-t Stedman and captured it, but he was unable 
to hold it.^ Grant now made a move to prevent Lee's escape 
southward to join Johnston, lie sent Sheridan with his cav- 
alry to Five Forks, a few miles from Petersburg, to seize the 
railroad. Lee dispatched l^ickett's division to ])rotect his com- 
munications and it was o\erwhelnied by numbers and several 
thousand Confederates were taken prisoners. 

Fall of Richmond. Lee's army was so reduced in numl)ers 
that on April 2 the Federals broke through his lines, and he 
saw if he would save his army there was nothing to do but 
to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond which he had defended 
so heroically. On April 3 a portitMi of the Union forces en- 
tered Richmond and seized the i)rize for which they had 
striven for four long, bloody years. 

Surrender at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. 
Grant left a small force in Richmontl and moved on to the 
southwest in pursuit of Lee. Fverywhere the Confederate 
conimunicaticMis wore cut tilT. Lee was tnitnumbered and sur- 
rouiukHl. llis supplies were captured and his men were 
starving. Grant met him at Appomattox Court House w'ith a 
large army; Lee had not si> many as thirty thousand. " After 
four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage 
and fortitude, the Anuy of Northern A'irginia has been com- 
pelled to }ield to oxerwhelming numl)crs and res(Hirces," " 

1 General Jolin B. Gordon entered the Confederate army in iS()i, as eap- 
lain of infantry, and rose by rapid promotions to the rank of lientenant- 
general. When General Lee surrendered at .Vpponiattox, General Gordon 
eonnnanded one wint;' of his army. He was wounded eight times during 
the war, five times in the single battle of Antietam. After the war he 
served the State of Georgia as governor, also as United States senator. 
.'\s a popular lecturer he became widely known, particularly through his 
address on The Last Days of the Confcdcraiy. General Gordon wrote 
Nriiiiiiisci'iiccs of the Civil Jl'ar. He died in icx)4. 

- 1-ee's last order to his army began with these words. After the war 
General Lee was made President of Washington Ihiiversity at Lexington, 
Virginia, and this institution after his ileath was called Washington and 
Lee Lhiiversity. He died in 1S70. In his closing hours he lived over again 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 



381 






SHOWING THE GRADUAL S(JUTUVVAUI) MOVKMKNT OF (ONFEDEUATE DEFENSES 

and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered.' Grant was generous 
and allowed most honorable terms of surrender. Both private 

some of the thrilling scenes of his great life. "Tell A. P. Hill he must 
come up," were his last words. Read the beautiful tribute to General Lee 
delivered before the Southern Historical Society of Georgia in i<S74 by 
Senator Hen II. Hill._ 

• See b'ather Ryan's poems, 'J'lic Sivurd of Ruhcrl Lcc and Tlic Con- 
quered Banner. 



382 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

soldiers and officers were released on parole and the men were 
allowed to keep their horses, because, as General Grant said, 
" they would need them in the spring plowing." Grant or- 
dered that the staning Confederates be fed from his supplies, 
and he would not allow his men to fire a salute in honor of the 
victory. Grant's hammering plan at last accomplished its 
purpose and the Confederacy was worn out and almost annihi- 
lated. On the twenty-sixth of April Johnston surrendered to 
Sherman on terms similar to those Grant allowed Lee and 
within a month thereafter the scattered armies of the Confed- 
eracy had all been disbanded.^ 

Assassination of Lincoln. ^^'hiIe Sherman was at Atlanta 
and Grant was before Petersburg in the fall of 1864, a presi- 
dential election was held in the North. The Democrats 
had nominated General George B. McClellan and the Repub- 
licans had renominated Lincoln. The latter was reelected 
with Andrew Johnson of Tennessee as V^ice-president. Li his 
second inaugural address Lincoln struck a note that boded well 
for the country: " With malice toward none, with charity for 
all ; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive on to finish the work we are in and bind up the na- 
tion's wounds ... to do all which may achieve and cherish 
a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." 
Just a little more than a month after the inaug"uration came the 
surrender at Appomattox, but the North hardly gave expres- 
sion to its joy before it was plunged into the deepest grief. 
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theater in Wash- 
ington on the night of April 14. by John Wilkes Booth, a dis- 
tinguished actor and southern zealot, half crazed by the down- 
fall of the Confederacy, who was at the head of a plot to mur- 
der President Lincoln, \^ice-president Johnson, Secretary 
Seward, and General Grant. President Lincoln breathed his 
last the next day. LTis death was a severe loss to the whole 

1 The last battle of the war took place at Palmito, on the Rio Grande, 
May 13, 1865, on almost exactly the spot where the battle of Palo Alto 
was fought in the Mexican War. The Confederates won. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 383 

country, ami the awful crime was viewed with horror both in 
the North and in the South. If Lincoln had been spared there 
would i>robably lia\T been an earlier restoration of harmony 
between the sections, and the South would have been saved 
much of the suffering' she was compelled to endure in the proc- 
ess of retx)nstruction. The assassin of the President lost his 
Hfe in trying to escape.^ Andrew Johnson, the Vice-presi- 
dent, took the oath of office as President April 15, 1865, a few 
hours after Lincoln breathed his last.- 

Capture of President Davis. President Davis had left Rich- 
mond on April 2, when General Lee was compelled to evac- 
uate the capital. The Federal government offered a reward 
of one hundred thousand dollars for his arrest. He was cap- 
tured in Georgia May 10 and carried as a prisoner to For- 
tress Monroe. Here he remained for two years and the " tall 
chieftain who wore the gray " suffered as a substitute for his 
i:)eople. He was indicted for treason and for conspiring with 
Lee and others to make war on the United States. Although 
he earnestly wished to be brought to trial he was never ar- 
raigned, but was finally released on parole. The failure to try 
Mr. Davis under the forms of law seems to have been due to 
the fear of the Federal authorities that u])on a test of the case 
in the courts the right of a state to secede would be estab- 
lished. 

Cost of the War to the North. The great war was over. 
The Confederacy was no more. On the part of the North, 
the w-ar w^as a magnificent display of material resources, of 
strength, and of devotion to the Union. The United States 
government had spent a revenue of nearly eight hundred mil- 
lion dollars on the war and incurred beside a debt of over two 
billions. In order to raise this enormous amount the govern- 

1 On the same night in which Lincohi was shot, an attempt was made 
on the life of Secretary Seward also, hut thougli he was severely wouncled, 
he soon recovered. Booth was killed while resisting arrest. Four of the 
other alleged conspirators were condenmcd upon circumstantial evidence 
and hanged, among them a woman, Mrs. Surratt. 

- See Walt Whitman's poem, O Captain, My Captain. 



384 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

ment taxed nearly everything. The tariff was increased in 
1 86 1, bonds were issued and an internal revenue system was 
established, placing an excise not only on whiskey and tobacco, 
but also on clothing, food, and other property. The govern- 
ment was also driven to issue a large volume of paper currency 
or *' promises to pay," called " greenbacks " on account of their 
color ; and during the war this paper money depreciated in pur- 
chasing power until it was worth only about half its face value, 
reckoned upon the standard of gold.^ It is difficult to estimate 
the losses in men. Over two and one-half millions enlisted in 
the Union army and three hundred and sixty thousand lost 
their lives in the struggle. When the surrender came there 
was something like a million to be mustered out of the service.^ 
But the North gave of her abundance. Her wealth increased 
and not half of her fighting population was brought into the 
field. The United States meanwhile had grown in size as well 
as in wealth. Three new states had been admitted during the 
period of strife: Kansas in 1861, West Virginia in 1863, and 
Nevada in 1864. 

Cost to the South. In the South the great struggle was 
maintained by sacrifice unparalleled in the history of war. The 
South spent her whole strength and not until she had ex- 
hausted her resources of men and supplies did she abandon the 
struggle. The Confederate government had amassed a debt 

1 As a consequence of the war debt and of disordered finances, the 
government established a new national banking system which at once 
afforded purchasers for the national bonds and increased the volume of 
currency. This system differed from the United States bank of Jackson's 
time. The government has no stock in national banks or any part in their 
conduct. It supervises their business, but is not interested as it was in 
the original national bank. National banks buy the government bonds 
and are permitted to issue currency based upon these bonds. The bonds 
are deposited in the United States treasury as security for the notes which 
the bank issues. 

- When the war closed, the United States had more than a million sol- 
diers in the field. On May 24, and 25, the armies of Grant and Sher- 
man passed in review in the streets of Washington. They made a column 
thirty miles long, and for two whole days the armies were passing in 
front of the reviewing stand at the White House, making a compact mass 
in the street from curbstone to curbstone. Soon all but 60,000 were mus- 
tered out and returned to their homes, where there was peace and plenty. 



THE WAR FROM 1863 TO THE END 385 

of fourteen millions and there is no way of estimating how 
much more was spent hy sei)arate states ; many private in- 
dividuals gave their all. The South had sent nine out of 
every ten men of fighting age into the field, yet the total enlist- 
ment in her armies was in all probability not many more than 
six hundred thousand and more than one- fourth of these 
lost their lives in the contest. When the end came the South- 
ern soldiers returned to neglected and ruined homes to take 
up again the occupations of peace in a land bereft and bare. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. Why had Lee's first invasion of the North been a disappointment to 
him? 2. In what respect was Gettysburg the turning point of the war? 3. 
What Federal victory in the West came at this time? 4. What was the im- 
portance of this latter event? 5. By what right did Lincoln justify his 
Emancipation Proclamation? 6. Contrast conditions in the South and in 
the North in 1864. 7. Name a famous Confederate prison. A Union 
prison. '8. On what motto did Grant advance on Richmond? 9. Name 
some railroads of great importance to Lee's army. 10. Give Sherman's 
words that express his excuse for his destructive march through Georgia. 
II. What were the conditions of Lee's surrender? 12. Did Johnston also 
surrender? 



CHAPTER XXIV 

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 

Andrew Johnson, President, 1865-1869 
Ulysses S. Grant, President, 1869-1877 
Schuyler Colfax, Vice-president, 1869-1873 
Henry Wilson, Vice-president, 1873-1877 

Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction. The problems growing 
out of the War Between the States were as difficult as those 
that caused the conflict. The most perplexing question was 
the relation of the seceded states to the Union. Were they 
still within the Union or had they forfeited their statehood 
and become conquered provinces to be governed at the will of 
Congress? Toward the close of the war, Lincoln, who held 
the view that the Union was unbroken, had decided upon a 
plan of dealing with the southern states. He issued a general 
amnesty to all persons who would take the oath '' to support, 
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States " 
and to accept the action of the federal government in abolish- 
ing slavery. Those who had left the service of the Union 
for that of the Confederacy and those who had taken a prom- 
inent part in secession were to be excepted from this general 
amnesty. Just as soon as a number of people within a state, 
equal to one-tenth of the voting population in i860, should 
take the oath of allegiance, a state government was to be set 
up and the former relations of the state to the Union would 
thereby be restored. Such was the simple, direct, and broad- 
minded plan of President Lincoln. 

Johnson's Plan of Reconstruction, But Lincoln was dead, 
and his place was taken by Andrew Johnson, our third acci- 
dental President, and upon him rested the grave responsibility 
of restoring the southern states to their former places in the 

386 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 387 

Union. ^ Johnson was an honest, able, and fearless man, but 
he was lacking in tact and in the talent of persuasion. He 
was a Democrat and a Southerner, though, like many men 
coming from the mountain regions of Tennessee, he opposed 
secession and gave his influence to the Federal cause. Of the 
twenty-two senators from the seceded states, he alone retained 
his seat. He was bitter in his denunciation of the southern 
leaders and threatened vengeance upon them for the part they 
had taken in the war. But when he became President the 
grave responsibility of his position made him more temperate 
in his views, and he resolved to carry out Lincoln's wise and 
pacific plan for the reconstruction of the Union. Congress 
would not meet for eight months ; and Johnson, believing that 
the sooner the southern states were restored the sooner peace 
and happiness would return to the land, immediately set him- 
self to the task of reconstruction. On May 29, 1865, he 
issued a general amnesty proclamation extending pardon to 
almost the entire citizenship with the exception of the principal 
leaders and most of them were promised pardon on the condi- 
tion that they personally sought it. He appointed provisional 
governors in the southern states and instructed the white 
voters who had taken the oath of allegiance under the general 
amnesty to elect delegates to the state conventions. New con- 
stitutions were framed, new officers were elected, and the 
Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution abolishing 
slavery was ratified by eight of the southern states. By the 
autumn of 1865 the process of reconstruction on the plan laid 
down by the President was accepted by the southern states 

1 Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth President of the United States, was 
born in North CaroHna, in 1808. He had no opportunity to attend school 
while a child, and after he was married his wife taught him reading and 
arithmetic. Settling in Tennessee, he followed the trade of a tailor, but 
being a man of great ambition, he was elected to many offices in his 
adopted state. In 1842 he was elected to Congress ; iu 1853 he was 
governor of his state, and in 1857 'le became a memlser of the United 
States Senate. In 1862, after the defeat of the Confederate armies in 
Tennessee, Lincoln made Johnson military governor of that state. He 
was elected to the Vice-presidency in 1864 on the Republican ticket, al- 
though he remained a Democrat in principle. He died in 1875. 



SS STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



and he declared them restored to the Union and ready for rep- 
resentation in Congress. 

The Thirteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment, 
abohshing slavery in all parts of the United States, had been 
proposed in the Federal Congress as early as April, 1864, but 
not until January, 1865, did the measure pass both houses 
of Congress. As provided in the Constitution it became nec- 
essary then to submit the amendment to the several states 
and to obtain the ratification of three-fourths of them in order 
to make it a part of the organic law. Slavery had already 
been abolished in the territories and in the District of Columbia 
and the fugitive slave law had been repealed. But the eman- 
cipation proclamation had affected only those parts of the 
country which were occupied by Federal troops, and the pur- 
pose of the amendment was to complete the work of emancipa- 
tion in all parts of the Union. It required the votes of eight 
of the states that had seceded, together with the other states 
favoring the amendment, to make the necessary three-fourths. 
December 18, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment became a part 
of the fundamental law of the land.^ 

Freedman's Bureau. The people of the southern states, 
after framing their new governments under the President's 
plan of reconstruction, interested themselves in the task of 
dealing with the emancipated negroes. Thousands of them 
were without homes or means of subsistence and their condi- 
dition was all the more pitiable because formerly their masters 
had shielded them and taken care of them and now the negroes 
were unwilling to accept advice and were beyond control. 
Following the desolation throughout the South many negroes 
had flocked to the Federal camps for food. In March, 1865, 
Congress created the " Freedman's Bureau," as a branch of 
the war department, to exist for one year. The purpose of 
this bureau was to care for the negro refugees, to give them 
food, clothing, and shelter, and to lease to them, on easy terms, 

1 The emancipation of the slaves without compensation to the owners 
represented a loss of about two bilHon dollars to the people of the south- 
ern states. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 389 

the abandoned lands in the South. But the system proved to 
be more harmful than beneficial. The negroes began to be- 
lieve that they would be supported without work and that the 
blue-coated armies would sustain them in idleness. 

Southern Legislation Concerning the Negro. The South 
recognized such a condition as a distinct menace to govern- 
ment, to property, and to person. The southern men, who 
knew the negro's character, understood that the way to help 
him was to require him under direction to care for himself. 
Ordinary prudence demanded that the negroes be controlled 
and disciplined until they could learn to use their freedom and 
in this way only could the negro be benefited and society 
protected. The southern legislatures, therefore, passed laws 
against vagrancy and undertook to compel the negro to work. 
Contract laws were also passed and an apprentice system was 
adopted by which minor negroes were bound out to service. 
The purpose of these laws was to initiate the negro gradually 
into the full rights of his freedom. There was nothing new 
in such legislation; in many of the northern states similar 
laws were on the statute books and were enforced. Subsequent 
events proved this legislation on the part of the South to have 
been wise and beneficial, but unfortunately many people in the 
North regarded it as an effort to deprive the negro of his 
freedom. Few of the northern people at that time had any 
comprehension of the negro's real condition. Besides, there 
was a considerable element in the North who felt that the 
South had not been sufiiciently punished for secession and 
who resented this particular legislation as evidence of a re- 
bellious and perverse attitude. 

Congressional Plan of Reconstruction. No sooner had Con- 
gress assembled in December, 1865, than a bitter conflict arose 
between that body and the President as to the proper manner 
of dealing with the seceded states. Congress distrusted Presi- 
dent Johnson because he was a Democrat and a Southerner 
and was displeased because he had assumed the right of di- 
recting reconstruction without consulting the lawmakers. Al- 



390 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

lowing for honest differences of opinion, it was manifest that 
sectional bitterness and party ambition rather than deliberate 
statesmanship influenced Congress in the determination to set 
aside the reconstruction that had already been accomplished 
under the President's plan. The states that had been members 
of the Confederacy w^ere omitted from the roll call by Con- 
gress and their representatives were denied their seats, not- 
withstanding the fact that the vote of eight of these states 
had been necessary for the adoption of the Thirteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution. Entirely ignoring the President's 
action. Congress rapidly enacted several measures of recon- 
struction which were promptly vetoed. The Republicans, 
however, had a two-thirds majority in both houses of Con- 
gress and easily passed the reconstruction acts over the veto. 

In June, 1866, Congress submitted to the states the Four- 
teenth Amendment to the Constitution, which made the negro 
a citizen of the United States and of the state in which he re- 
sided. This amendment excluded from office, state or federal, 
all those who had at any time taken the oath to support the 
Constitution of the United States, or who had held civil or 
military office either in the United States or in a state, and 
had afterwards served in the Confederacy.^ This provision 
denied to the great mass of the white citizens of the South 
the right to hold office; but the disability of the citizen could 
be removed by a two-thirds majority of Congress. The 
ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment was necessary for the 
readmission of southern states to the Union. Congress passed 
also an act continuing the Freedman's Bureau in the southern 
states for two years and enlarging its powers. 

The Great Reconstruction Act, March 2, 1867. Tennessee 
ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866 and was declared 
entitled to the right of representation, the first of the seceded 
states to be readmitted under the reconstruction acts of Con- 

1 This amendment provided also that if negroes were excluded from 
suffrage, the representation of the state in Congress would be reduced 
accordingly. Another provision of the amendment was that the debts 
of the Confederacy were declared to be illegal and void. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 391 

gress. The other ten rejected the amendment and Congress 
construed these acts as defiance of its powers and henceforth 
its deaHngs with the South were as unjust as they were un- 
statesmanHke. Congress adopted the view that the south- 
ern states, by seceding, had forfeited all their rights and had 
become conquered provinces subject to military rule. On 
March 2, 1867, the great Reconstruction Act was passed over 
the President's veto. This provided that the ten southern 
states should be divided into five military districts, each under 
the administration of a general of the army, who was to 
execute the work of reconstruction. The Freedman's Bureau 
was to serve as the guardian of the negro. As soon as a 
state constitution could be framed and ratified by the voters 
who could qualify under a severe statutory oath, which pre- 
vented many white citizens from qualifying, and the Four- 
teenth Amendment should be ratified, the state would be read- 
mitted into the Union. 

Carpet-bag Rule in the South. This act submitted the 
southern people to the greatest trial they had ever endured. 
Under the terms of the Reconstruction Act the great majority 
of the white men of the South were disfranchised and the 
principal voters were the negroes, who were permitted to 
participate in the reorganization of the southern states even 
before the Fourteenth Amendment giving them citizenship 
had been adopted. But the freedman gained nothing from his 
newly acquired power, for the South soon swarmed with un- 
scrupulous adventurers from the North, who turned the ne- ^ 
groes against their former masters and used them for base and 
dishonest purposes. These adventurers were called " carpet- 
baggers " because they were described as having all of their 
belongings with them in their carpet bags or satchels. Act- 
ing in conjunction with the managers of the Freedman's Bu- 
reau and having the support of the Federal troops, they set 
up governments in the South that were the most corrupt the 
country has ever known. They controlled the legislatures 
and plundered the states. Taxes were increased to such an 



39-2 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

extent that the already impoverished men of the South could 
not pay them and were compelled to surrender their lands in 
default.- In the state of Mississippi alone six hundred and 
forty thousand acres of land were forfeited on account of 
the exorbitant taxes which the owners were unable to pay. 
Enormous debts were created; state bonds were issued for 
public improvements which were not made or which repre- 
sented but a small part of the outlay. During the period of 
reconstruction the debt of Louisiana increased from five or 
six million dollars to fifty millions. In South Carolina twenty- 
six hundred pieces of land were sold for taxes in a single 
county in one year. Similar conditions prevailed throughout 
the South. Here and there a few southern men joined in the 
general plundering and these became known as " scalawags." 

Readmission of Seven Southern States. In 1868 seven of 
the southern states, through the newly made negro voters and 
the carpetbaggers, adopted constitutions, ratified the Four- 
teenth Amendment, and were declared entitled to represen- 
tation in Congress. These states were North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas, 
and for several years yet the governments of these states 
remained in the hands of the adventurers. This carpet-bag 
ratification produced the necessary three-fourths vote and in 
1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was declared in force. In 
Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas the white voters refused for 
a year and a half longer to submit to the conditions of ratifi- 
cation.^ 

The Fifteenth Amendment and the Readmission of Virginia, 
Mississippi, and Texas. Meanwhile the radical leaders in 
Congress had framed and submitted the Fifteenth Amendment 
to the Constitution, declaring that neither Congress nor any 
of the states had the power to deny the right of citizens to 

1 Georgia ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, and was read- 
mitted to the Union in that year. But statutes were passed excluding 
negroes from office, and Congress immediately refused to admit the repre- 
sentatives from Georgia until these statutes were repealed. Not until 1871 
w-as Georgia fully reinstated. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 393 

vote on account " of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude." It was agreed that those states which had not 
been readmitted to the Union should be required to accept 
this amendment also. In 1870 Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas 
ratified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and were 
declared readmitted. Their ratification made up the necessary 
three- fourths for the Fifteenth Amendment and in 1870 it 
became a part of the Constitution. Early in 1871 all the 
states were again represented in Congress — the first time 
since 1861.^ 

The Ku-Klux Klan. In sheer desperation the white men 
of the South determined to regain control of their state gov- 
ernments and put an end to the plundering misrule of the 
carpetbagger. In some of the states they gained control 
by peaceable means, in others they took the law into their 
own hands, and in some instances they resorted to violence. 
A secret society, known as the Ku-Klux Klan, was organized 
Uw the purpose of overthrowing the carpet-bag governments 
and protecting the southern people from indignities and out- 
rages. This mysterious brotherhood of the Ku-Klux rode 
forth in the night, wearing tall pasteboard hats and hideous 
masks, with horse and rider draped in ghostly white and 
the feet of the horses muffled so as to give no warning 
of approach. 2 As they came and went silently these night 
riders spread terror through the countryside. Often a thor- 
ough fright would result in submission but sometimes the 
Ku-Klux resorted to severe measures. The society grew until 
in every state there were " dens " of the Ku-Klux for the pro- 

1 Notwithstanding this amendment several of the Southern states, by 
amendments to their constitutions or by suffrage acts, have excluded from 
the ballot large numbers of negroes who lack the necessary qualifications 
for intelligent citizenship. 

- This organization originated among some young men of Pulaski, Ten- 
nessee, just for the pleasure of association and for amusement. They 
called themselves Kuklos, the Greek word for circle, and their actions 
were veiled in mystery. At first they went about the country playing 
harmless pranks, but when they perceived the panic of fear they pro- 
duced some of them began to make use of their organization to control 
the negroes. 



394 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

tection of the South. Other secret organizations were estab- 
Hshed for the same purpose. 

The Force Bills. The carpet-bag governments made ap- 
peals to Congress for protection and in 1870 and 1871 laws 
were passed called Force Bills, the purpose of which was to 
put an end to the activities of the Ku-Klux and protect the 
negroes. These acts provided for the substitution of martial 
law for civil law, and under them the elections in the south- 
ern states were put in control of Federal officials.^ Notwith- 
standing these difficulties the white people gradually regained 
control in the South. In 1872 Congress passed a general 
amnesty act which removed disabilities from practically all 
the southern leaders, but it was not imtil 1876 that the Fed- 
eral troops were removed from the South. The Congressional 
plan of reconstruction increased the hostility between the 
sections. Before the war the citizens of the South were di- 
vided in politics according to their views of public questions, 
but carpet-bag misrule made a solid Democratic South. 

French in Mexico ; Purchase of Alaska ; Admission of 
Nebraska. The year 1867, which marked the beginning of 
the merciless Congressional reconstruction in the South, was 
marked also by a tragic revolution in Mexico in which the 
United States played a part. In 1862 and 1863 France seized 
an opportunity to interfere in the affairs of iMexico.^ French 
troops were sent into the country and set up an empire under 
Maximilian, the archduke of Austria. Such a step was an 
open violation of the established Monroe Doctrine maintained 
by the United States since 1823. The government at Wash- 
ington protested against the French occupation of Mexico but 
was unable, on account of the \\'ar Between the States and its 

1 Most of the carpet-bag governments had created " returning boards " 
which were authorized to pass upon all election returns, and as these 
" boards " were usuallj' composed of the leading adventurers it is useless 
to say that all contests were decided in behalf of the carpetbaggers. 

- In 1861 Mexico, having just passed through a revolution, declared 
herself unable for the time being to pay her debts. England, Spain, and 
France, her chief creditors, made a joint demand upon the ]\Iexican gov- 
ernment, which arranged to satisfy England and Spain; but France saw 
an opportunity to realize her colonial ambition and refused to be satisfied. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 395 

consequences, to enforce its protest until 1867, when fifty thou- 
sand veteran troops, under General PhiHp Sheridan, were sent 
to the Rio Grande frontier. Alaximihan had already found 
it difficult to maintain his empire against the wishes of the 
people of ]\Iexico and was ahle to do so only by the aid of 
the French troops. Louis Napoleon, the Emperor of France, 
realized that he could not resist the Mexican patriots and the 
United States government combined and immediately with- 
drew his troops. Without the support of the French the new 
empire crumbled and Maximilian was captured by the Mexican 
patriots and executed. Thereupon a republic was reestablished 
in Mexico under Benito Jaurez. 

In the same year, 1867. the territory of the United States 
was expanded by the purchase of Alaska from Russia for the 
sum of $7,200,000 in gold, and the number of the states also 
was increased by the admission of Nebraska, a part of the 
Louisiana purchase.^ 

Tenure of Office Act and the Impeachment of the President. 
In 1867, at the time that the Reconstruction Act was passed 
over the President's veto, the Tenure of Office Act became a 
law in the same manner. This law undertook to prohibit the 
President from removing any officeholder whose appointment 
required the consent of the Senate. From the very beginning 
of the government the President had exercised the power of 
asking the resignation of appointed officers.^ But Congress 
was now embittered toward President Johnson on account 
of his opposition to the Congressional plan of reconstruction 
and the majority were resolved to control even his cabinet. 
In spite of this act, however, the President removed Edwin 
M. Stanton, the Secretary of War. Stanton refused to ac- 
quiesce in the removal and the President suspended him from 
the office, and put General Grant in his place. When Congress 
met the Senate refused to ratify Stanton's removal. Never- 

' Alaska, having an area of 599.446 square miles, is nearly twice the size 
of Texas, and al)out one-sixth as large as the combined area of all the 
states. It is our largest outlying possession. 

- In the first Congress a law was passed to this effect. 



396 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

theless the President declared his office vacant, and again Stan- 
ton refused to surrender his position. Thereupon the House 
of Representatives brought impeachment proceedings against 
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, for " high 
crimes and misdemeanors." He was accused of faihng in his 
duty and violating the Tenure of Office Act. The real cause 
of action was his persistent opposition to Congress and its 
plans of reconstruction. He was put on trial, as the Consti- 
tution provides, in the Senate with the Chief Justice of the Su- 
l)reme Court presiding, and the senators constituting the jury. 
The trial lasted from March 5, 1868, to May 16 following, and 
the President was acquitted by one vote.-*^ 

The Atlantic Cable. During this political turmoil there 
was an achievement of the most far-reaching consequences 
to the civilization of the world — the laying of the Atlantic 
cable. In 1858, during the dark days just preceding the War 
Between the States, the first cable was laid by Cyrus W. Field, 
reaching from Newfoundland to Ireland, a distance of seven- 
teen hundred miles, but after being in operation for several 
weeks it proved a failure. In 1865 Field obtained capital, 
chiefly from England, for another attempt, and in 1866 a 
British ship, the Great Eastern, was used to lay the cable which 
proved successful.^ The Eastern and the Western worlds 
were joined together, and for the purpose of communication 
time and space were practically annihilated. 

Election of Grant. Just four days after the close of Presi- 
dent Johnson's trial the Republicans, endorsing the reconstruc- 
tion policy of Congress, unanimously nominated General U. S. 
Grant for the Presidency and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana for 
the Vice-presidency. The Democrats opposed this policy and 
nominated Horatio Seymour of New York for the Presidency 
and F. P. Blair of Missouri for the Vice-presidency. Those 

1 The Constitution provides that there shall be a two-thirds majority 
to sustain charges of impeachment. Thirty-five senators voted to depose 
the President, and nineteen voted against it. 

- Matthew F. Maury's deep sea charts were an invaluable aid to Field 
in his enterprise ; he said that Maury furnished the brains and he did the 
work. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 397 

southern states that had been readmitted to the Union in 
1868 were controlled by negro voters and they cast Republi- 
can majorities. Grant was elected and on March 4, 1869, 
he took the oath of office. The country hoped for peace under 
the plain soldier who was trusted alike by Congress and the 
people. 

Comparative Quiet in Grant's First Administration. Dur- 
ing President Grant's first term, Virginia, Mississippi, and 
Texas were readmitted in 1870 and the Union was again 
restored complete as before the war. The news of the Ku- 
Klux disturbances in the South and the appeals of the carpet- 
bag governments caused the sending of troops to the south- 
ern states and the passage of the Force Bills as heretofore 
related.^ .The census of 1870 showed a population of thirty- 
eight millions, an increase of seven millions since i860 in 
spite of the war. The gain in the South was about eight 
hundred thousand. Crops were abundant and industries were 
rapidly reviving. 

Great Fires. Terrible fires swept over different parts of 
the land in 1871 and 1872. In the fall of 1871, fire broke 
out in a stable in the w^estern part of Chicago and a high wind 
soon swept it over the city, producing one of the most dis- 
astrous conflagrations of modern times. For three days it 
raged, destroying two hundred million dollars in property and 
leaving one hundred thousand people homeless. But Chicago 
rose from her ashes in a marvelously short time into a larger 
and greater city. In the fall of 187 1 forest fires swept over 
Wisconsin, and in 1872 a large part of the city of Boston was 
burned. As the news of these disasters flashed over the 
wires the people responded with generous relief for the suf- 
fering regions and the calamities served in a large degree to 
revive the spirit of national sympathy. 

1 General Grant responded to the appeals of the carpetbag govern- 
ments for troops, but it was a disagreeable duty, and he said that he 
was heartily sick and tired of the election troubles in the South. Grad- 
ually the North came to realize that a government that had to be supported 
by bayonets was hardly worth supporting. 



398 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Treaty of Washington, 1871. In the year 187 1 a misunder- 
standing which had arisen between the United States and 
Great Britain, growing out of the war between the North and 
the South, was adjusted to the satisfaction of both countries. 
Great Britain had been neutral during the struggle, but she 
had recognized the Confederacy as a belligerent power and 
most of the Confederate privateers and cruisers had been built 
in English ship-yards and fitted out in English ports. The 
government at Washington had resented this attitude upon 
the part of Great Britain and now demanded that the British 
government pay in part at least for the damage wrought by the 
Confederate ships. The demands were described under the 
general head of the " Alabama Claims." ^ In the spring of 
1871 a joint high commission was appointed, consisting of 
leading citizens of both countries, to sit at Washington to 
negotiate a settlement of this and other questions in dispute. 
In May, 1871, this commission reached an agreement known 
as the Treaty of Washington, which both countries accepted. 
It provided for the settlement by arbitration of the mat- 
ters in dispute between the two governments : first, the 
Alabama Claims ; second, the boundary line between Van- 
couver Island and the United States which was vaguely de^ 
fined in the treaty by which we acquired our part of Oregon ; 
third, the rights of American fishermen in Canadian waters. 
The Alabama Claims were to be settled by a board of arbitra- 
tion consisting of five persons appointed by five nations, to-wit : 
The United States, England, Italy, Brazil, and Switzerland. 
The board met at Geneva, in Switzerland, and in September, 
1872, it reached a decision as follows : that Great Britain should 
pay the United States the sum of fifteen million five hundred 
thousand dollars in settlement of the Alabama Claims. The 
second matter in dispute, the boundary question, was referred 
to the Emperor of Germany, who decided that a small group 
of islands in Puget Sound belonged to the United States. 

^ The Confederate cruisers that did the greatest damage to Northern 
commerce were the Alabama, the Shenandoah, and the Florida. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 399 

The third matter, the fisheries question, was settled by a board 
of arbitration consisting of three persons appointed by the 
President of the United States and the Queen of England. 
These met at Halifax, Nova Scotia, but not until 1877, ^^^^ 
rendered their decision in the same year to the effect that the 
United States should pay to Great Britain five million five hun- 
dred thousand dollars for the right to fish inshore along the 
Canadian coasts. The United States paid the sum although 
it was considered exorbitant; in 1885 this treaty expired. 

Election of 1872. As Grant's first term drew to a close 
a faction known as the " Liberal Republicans " separated from 
the Republican party, condemned its reconstruction policy, and 
joined the Democrats in making charges of inefficient adminis- 
tration and corruption. The Liberal Republicans nominated 
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, for the Pres- 
idency and the Democrats supported him.^ The Republicans 
again nominated Grant for the first place on their ticket, but 
selected Henry Wilson of Massachusetts for the second place. 
Grant and Wilson were elected. 

Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier. It was not long 
before the country realized that the charges of corruption in 
the administration were well founded, though they did not 
touch the President himself. A number of unsavory scandals 
were unearthed which shocked and disgusted the people. The 
first case that came to public attention was the use of bribery 
by the Credit Mobilier.^ In 1869 the Central Pacific and the 
Union Pacific, two railway lines started in 1863, were com- 
pleted. These railroads had conquered nature's barriers of 
dry plains and lofty mountains of the middle continent and 
with bands of steel had bound together the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts. A corporation known as the Credit Mobilier 

1 Horace Greeley was nominated for the Presidency, and Benjamin Gratz 
Brown of Missouri for the Vice-presidency. Before the election Greeley's 
health failed as a result of the excitement of the campaign, and he died 
November 29, 1872. 

-The corporation for the construction of the Pacific Railways was 
modeled after a French company, known as the Credit Mobilier (kra'de' 
mo-be'lya'). 



400 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

started these trans-continental railways and Congress had made 
immense grants of lands and other concessions to this com- 
pany.^ During the campaign charges had been openly made 
by the Democrats that Colfax, the Vice-president, and Wilson, 
the candidate for the Vice-presidency, the speaker of the House, 
and a number of senators and representatives had accepted 
shares of the stock in the construction company in considera- 
tion for their aid in securing grants and favorable legislation. 
On investigation only two members of the House and one 
of the Senate were found guilty of misconduct; they were 
formally censured but were not expelled. People generally be- 
lieved that more had been covered up than had been revealed. 

Back Salary Grab. The disgust of the people was intensi- 
fied by the Salary Act of Congress in 1873, popularly called 
the " back salary grab." The salary of the President was 
advanced from twenty-five thousand dollars to fifty thousand a 
year and the salaries of a large number of other federal officers 
were raised. In the case of the members of Congress the in- 
crease of salaries was made to date back two years. This 
part of the salary act was so obnoxious that it was repealed 
at the next session of Congress.^ 

The Whiskey Ring ; Impeachment of Belknap. A " whis- 
key ring" was brought to light in 1875. In many of the 
western states it was discovered that distillers and government 
officials had made a bargain to cheat the government out of the 
internal revenue on distilled spirits. In two years they de- 
frauded the United States in the sum of more than four million 
dollars. Investigation revealed the most glaring frauds and 
demonstrated that the Secretary of War, W. W. Belknap, had 
received something like twenty-five thousand dollars in bribes. 
Articles of impeachment were preferred by the House but 

1 Other railroads were rapidly built in the West. Before the coming 
of the railroad all supplies had to be carried on horse back or in wagons 
over long and toilsome routes. Such transportation made the cost of 
goods very high. A hundred pound sack of flour sold for eighty-five dol- 
lars, and other necessaries were proportionately dear. 

2 The advance in the President's salary was allowed to stand. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 401 

the secretary resigned a few hours before his trial was to be- 
gin in the Senate. 

Panic of 1873; Financial Legislation. In 1873 a disas- 
trous panic swept over the country. In sparsely settled dis- 
tricts in the West railways had been built too rapidly. In all, 
more than a billion dollars had been spent in railway con- 
struction and this money was as yet yielding only slight re- 
turns or no returns at all. There were many commercial fail- 
ures and universal distress.^ In 1873 an act was passed 
"demonetizing" silver; that is, discontinuing the coinage of 
the silver dollar. Subsequently there was a decline in the 
price of silver and many people regarded this act as one 
of the causes of the panic and urged the restoration of 
silver coinage. In 1875 Congress passed an act for the re- 
sumption of specie payments ; that is, all paper money was to 
be redeemed in coin. This act was to go into effect within 
four years. 

Indian Troubles. President Grant desired to adopt a con- 
ciliatory policy towards the Indians, but in spite of his effort 
troubles with various tribes now beset the country. The Mo- 
doc Indians refused to be removed from their reservation near 
Klamath Lake in southern Oregon and it required nearly a 
year of hard fighting to drive them from their hiding-places 
in the lava beds of that region. In the summer of 1876 serious 
trouble broke out among the Sioux Indians, led by their chiefs. 
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Gold had been discovered in 
their reservation in the Black Hills on the border-line of Wy- 
oming and Dakota and the rush of miners into the country 
caused the Indians to take to the warpath. On the Little 
Big Horn River in Montana several thousand Sioux Indians 
were assembled. An army was sent against them, a detach- 
ment of which under General George A. Custer, a noted cav- 
alry leader, was surrounded and destroyed to a man. Finally, 

1 In 1869 a financial crisis had developed, and on Friday, September 
24, 1869 — Black Friday it was called — firm after firm failed, and fortunes 
were swept away almost in a breath. September 18, 1873, is known as the 
" Second Black Friday." 



402 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

after months of fighting, the Indians were brought to terms, 
but Sitting Bull escaped into Canada. 

In 1877 gold was discovered on the Nez Perces reservation 
in Wallowa valley in Oregon, and as miners rushed in a new 
treaty was forced upon the Indians by which they agreed to 
surrender all but a reservation at Lapwai in Idaho. Chief 
Joseph refused to abide by the treaty and his refusal led to 
the Nez Perces War in which severe defeats were inflicted upon 
the United States troops. The Indians attempted to escape 
into Canada and their masterly retreat was much admired by 
the ofificers opposed to them — they marched and fought like 
white troops, did no scalping and killed no women or chil- 
dren. They were pursued one thousand and five hundred miles 
through Idaho and Montana and were forced to surrender by 
the arrival of General Miles when within a short distance of the 
Canadian border. Joseph surrendered on condition that the 
Nez Perces be allowed to return to their own country ; but they 
were deported to the Indian Territory where in seven days they 
were reduced by disease from four hundred and fifty to two 
hundred and eighty. They were afterwards taken north to the 
state of Washington. 

The Disputed Election of 1876. General Grant's adminis- 
tration was drawing to a close with a sad record of error and 
corruption. There was no taint upon the President himself, 
but the recent practices of the Republican party caused a revolt 
against it and the Democrats hoped much from the presidential 
election of 1876. Already they had a majority in the House 
of Representatives. Declaring their purpose to reform the 
government, they nominated Samuel Jones Tilden of New 
York for the Presidency and Thomas A. Hendricks of Ohio 
for the Vice-presidency. In the face of its recent mistakes the 
Republican party was now clearly on the defensive and it re- 
sorted to the device of "waving the bloody shirt;" that is, 
appealing to the prejudices still lingering as a result of the 
war. Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio was the Republican nom- 
inee for the Presidencv, and William A. Wheeler of New York 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 403 

for the Vice-presidency. Two other parties presented candi- 
dates for election, the Independent or Greenback party and 
the newly formed Prohibition party, but neither polled many 
votes. ^ Tilden received a popular majority of one cjuarter 
million votes, and the electoral vote of every Southern state 
except three, where the election was in dispute with charges 
of violence and fraud on both sides. 

These states were Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina. 
In each of these cases the Republicans, through the " return- 
ing boards," declared the election in their favor, and thereby 
secured the electoral vote for Hayes who was declared elected 
on the face of the returns.^ The Democrats refused to ac- 
cept the result, and as inauguration day approached intense 
excitement prevailed throughout the country. At last both 
sides agreed to a settlement by a committee of fifteen, known 
as the Electoral Commission, created by an act of Con- 
gress. Five of the members were to be chosen from the House, 
five from the Senate, and five from the Supreme Court. Seven 
of the commissioners were Democrats and eight were Repub- 
licans. The Commission, by a majority of one, declared that 
Hayes was elected and he w^as promptly inaugurated.^ 

Centennial Exposition ; Admission of Colorado. The year 
1876 was the centennial anniversary of our independence, and 
the event was celebrated by a great industrial exposition which 

^ The Greenback party nominated Peter Cooper, of New York, for 
President, and the Prohibitionists nominated Green Clay Smith, of Ken- 
tucky. 

- In the election of 1876, Louisiana had gone Democratic by a majority 
of 7,876; but a returning board of one white man and two negroes decided 
that some of the votes had been fraudulently cast and, therefore, threw out 
enough Democratic counties to give the electoral vote of the state to 
Hayes. The returning boards in South Carolina and Florida were equally 
efficient. In Oregon the three Republican electors had a majority, but, 
on the claim that one of them was a federal officeholder and ineligible, the 
Democratic governor gave a certificate of election to one Democratic and 
two Republican electors. The three Republican electors were certified to 
by the Secretary of State, who was the canvassing officer of the state by 
statute. 

^ The final decision of the Electoral Commission was not declared until 
after four o'clock in the morning of March 2. Hayes took the oath of 
office on Saturday, March 3, and the inaugural ceremonies were held on 
Monday, March 5. 



404 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

was held at Philadelphia.^ Foreign governments were invited 
to aid in making this exposition a success, and thirty-three 
responded. Some of these governments generously lent their 
treasures of art to adorn the galleries of our exposition. 
Great crowds attended the fair from May until Novemher, 
and the whole world was impressed with the vast resources of 
the great Republic of the West. Colorado, which was formed 
partly from the Louisiana purchase and partly from the Mexi- 
can cession, was admitted in the same year as the Centennial 
Exposition, and is called the Centennial State. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. State Lincoln's plan of reconstruction. 2. State the plan of Congress. 
3. What caused the quarrel between Johnson and Congress? How was 
this quarrel a calamity to the South? 5. \\"hat was the Freedman's Bu- 
reau? 6. What was its effect upon conditions in the South? 7. Who was 
a " carpet bagger " and why so called ? 8. What was the "' Ku Klux 
Klan "? 9. What effect did the " Iron Clad Oath " have upon the political 
situation in the South? 10. What caused the split in the Republican party 
in 1872? II. How had Russia acquired Alaska? 12. \\"hy was she willing 
to sell it? 13.' In view of recent events, has the price we paid for Alaska 
proved a bargain? 14. What caused the panic of 1873? 15. What great 
triumph in communication and what triumph in transportation came dur- 
ing the ten years following the war? 16. What famous southern states- 
man was orator at the Centennial Celebration? 17. Who wrote the cen- 
tennial ode for the occasion? 

SOURCE MATERIAL 

General References: Stephens, U'ar Bctzccivi the States; Davis, Rise 
and Fall of the dyiifederacy; Ropes. 5"/o;v of the Civil War; Smith, 
Parties and Slavery; Guy Carleton Lee, True History of the Civil U'ar; 
Reed, The Brother's U'ar; Fiske, The Mississipl^i J 'alley in the Civil War; 
Wilson, Division and Reunion and The American People. IV & V: Blaine, 
Twenty Years of Congress; Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War; Lee, 
Life and Letters of R. E. Lee; . Battles and Leaders of the Cizil JJ'ar; 

^ In 1853 America held her first world's fair at New York, when Franklin 
Pierce was President. The countries of Europe did not respond very 
readily to the efforts of the United States, and financially the fair was a 
failure. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION 405 

Stamvood, The Presidency; Mahan, Gulf and Inland Waters; Forbes, 
Artist's Story of the Great War; Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms and The 
Outcome of the Civil War; Maury, Recollections of a Virginian; Long- 
street, Prom Manassas to Appomattox; Hood, Advance and Retreat; John- 
ston, Narrative of Military Operations; Trent, Southern Statesmen and 
The Tragedy of Reconstruction; Raphael Semmes, The Kcarsarge and the 
Alabama; Burgess, Civil War and Reconstruction; Taylor, Destruction 
and Reconstruction ; Biographies of Davis, Lincoln, Lee, Jackson, etc. 

Sources AND Other Readings: Carpenter, Six Months at the While 
House; Harrison, Recollections, Grave and Gay, in Scribner's. igii ; Harris, 
On the Plantation ; Cable, The Cavalier and John March, Southerner; 
S. E. White, The Westerners : Ticknor, The Virginians of the Valley; 
Henty, IVith Lee in Virginia; Church, Ericsson; Wharton, JVar Songs and 
Poems; Stoddard, Burial of Lincoln; Lowell, Commemoration Ode; Hub- 
bard, Centennial Oration; Whittier, Centennial Hymn; Gibbons, Centen- 
nial Prayer; Page, Two Little Confederates, The Burial of the Guns, Red 
Rock, and In Ole Virginia; Eggleston, American War Ballads; R. E. Lee, 
Letter to Governor Letcher, To the Trustees of Washington College, 
Resigning his Commission in the United States Army, Description of Trav- 
eler. Last Order to His Army; Wattcrson, Abraham Lincoln; J. G. Saxe, 
Hoii< Cyrus Laid the Cable; Lincoln, Inaugural Addresses and Gettysburg 
Address; Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way; Finch, The Blue and the 
Gray; W. H. Thompson, High Tide at Gettysburg; Hayne, The Stricken 
South and The Bombardment of Vicksburg; Timrod, The Cotton Boll; 
Allan, The Army of Northern J'irginia; Charles Scott, The Women of 
The Confederacy; Stephen D. Lee, Eulogy of General John, B. Gordon; 
John Sharp Williams, A Southern Gentleman; Daniel, A Follower of Lee 
and The South is Rising Up; Eggleston, Southern Soldier Stories; ^lark 
Twain, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer; Stiles, Four Years Under 
Marse Robert; Cooke, JVearing the Gray and Hilt to Hilt and Other 
Stories; Avary, A Virginia Girl in the Civil War; Chestnutt, A Diary from 
Dixie; Grady, The Nezif South; Hall, Half Hours in Southern History; 
Churchill, The Crisis; Fox, Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come; Johnston, 
The Long Roll; Preston, The Shade of the Trees; Moore, Sam Davis; 
Miles, God Save the South; Dabney, The Mortal ]]\ninding of General 
Jackson; Davis. Fareivell Address to the United States Senate; Toombs, 
Farewell Address to the United States Senate. 

Pictures: Magazines and papers for 1911 ; St. Gaudens, Lincoln 
(statue) ; Valentine, Recumbent Statue of Lee. 



THE REUNITED STATES 
1876-I912 

CHAPTER XXV 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 

Rutherford B. Hayes, President, 1877-1881 
William A. Wheeler, Vice-president, 1877-1881 
James A. Garfield, President, 1881 
Chester A. Arthur, Vice-president, 1881 
Chester A. Arthur, President, 1881-1885 
Grover Cleveland, President, 1885-1889 
Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-president, 1885 
Benjamin Harrison, President, 1889-1893. 
Levi P. Morton, Vice-president, 1889-1893 
Grover Cleveland, President, 1893-1897. 
Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice-president, 1893-1897 

The New Era. In a few weeks after President Hayes was 
inaugurated, the Federal troops were withdrawn from the 
South ; the period of reconstruction was at an end, and the 
nation entered upon a period of poHtical rest such as it had 
not known for fifty years. ^ Throughout the whole country 
there was great effort for a development of natural resources, 
a reconstruction of industries, a building up of the means of 
transportation, and a gradual knitting together of the sections. 
President Hayes was a sincere man, but his conciliatory policy 
toward the South had lost him the support of a large element 

1 Rutherford B. Hayes was born in Ohio, in 1822. He was a lawyer 
by profession, but at the outbreak of the war, enlisted in the Federal 
army, and served throughout the entire four years, attaining to the rank 
of major-general of volunteers. At the close of the war he entered Con- 
gress, and, after serving two years in that body, was governor of- his 
state from 1868 to 1872. In 1877 he was declared President by the Elec- 
toral Commission. He was a man of ability, and as President, made 
earnest efforts to improve the public service. He died at his home in 
Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 1893. 

406 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 407 

of his own party. ^ Congress was Democratic and generally 
opposed the President's measures, but this condition did not 
affect the industrial and commercial progress of the people, 
and peace and prosperity smiled upon the land. 

Financial Legislation. As an evidence of prosperity the 
government was gradually reducing its debt and accumulating 
a surplus in the treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury was 
amassing coin in readiness for the resumption of specie pay- 
ments which would make the greenbacks as good as gold. For 
various reasons silver had been decreasing in value. The silver 
mine owners in Nevada and other Pacific states and territories 
believed that this decline in the value of their product was 
due to the demonetization of silver in 1873, and they urged 
that the silver dollar again be coined. The result of this agita- 
tion was the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, providing for the 
coinage of a certain number of silver dollars every month. ^ 
, Industrial Activity; Formation of Corporations. The vast 
forests, the rich mineral deposits of gold, silver, iron, and 
coal, the fertile grain fields and the cattle ranges made the 
West and the Middle West a veritable land of promise. In 
the South agriculture was still the mainstay of the people, 
but the coal and iron deposits in the region were developing 

1 Hayes owed his election to the carpet-bag governments and their 
returning boards, and, as these governments existed only by reason of 
the support given them by Federal troops, it was noteworthy that one of 
the first acts of his administration was to withdraw these troops. Imme- 
diately after the withdrawal of the soldiers, the southern white men se- 
cured control of their state governments. The Force Bill, however, was 
not formally repealed until 1909, although portions of it were declared 
unconstitutional as early as 1881. 

- The Bland-Allison Act provided that the United States should coin 
not less than two million dollars worth of silver a month, nor more than 
four millions, at the ratio of sixteen to one compared with gold. From 
the first the United States has practiced what is called free coinage of 
gold; that is, a person having uncoined gold of required purity may 
take it to the mint and have it coined or exchange it for coin. As the 
government charges nothing for the service except the expense of the 
coinage, the money received in return for gold weighs but slightly less 
than the original gold. Until 1873 silver was coined in the same way 
and under the same conditions. The amount of silver that received the 
official stamp of a dollar was about sixteen times as heavy as the gold 
dollar. 



4o8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

and cotton mills were multiplying. The manufacturing in- 
terests of the eastern states kept pace with the growth in 
the other sections of the country. W^ith this great industrial 
activity business began to be conducted on a large scale. Pri- 
vate firms were changed into stock companies, and there was 
the beginning of the great enterprises which in these days 
are recognized as trusts or monopolies.-^ The railroads were 
quick to recognize the economic value of combination and 
they formed the richest and most important of the big cor- 
porations. Companies were organized to control a number of 
short lines, and many of these were linked together to form 
"trunk lines.'' In 1880 there were nearly ninety thousand 
miles of railway in the United States, and transportation was 
much cheapened. The invention of the Bessemer - process 
for making steel directly from pig iron furnished cheaper and 
more substantial rails. 

During the year 1883 a system of standard time was adopted 
by the railroads. Within the United States there were four 
divisions counting seven and a half degrees each way from 
the following meridians : seventy-five, ninety, one hundred and 
five, and one hundred and twenty ; these divisions are known 
as Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time. Between 
every division, or for eveiy fifteen degrees of longitude, there 
is an hour's difference in time. This arrangement has greatly 
diminished the danger of railroad accidents, and standard time 
is now universally observed. 

The use of ferry transfers across the rivers had caused 
heavy expense and much delay, and these conditions inspired 
the construction of great railroad and highway bridges. The 
first bridge across the middle Mississippi was built at Rock 
Island, Illinois, in 1856, and by 1880 a dozen bridges spanned 

1 Among these enormous enterprises was the Standard Oil Company, 
which was chartered under the laws of Ohio in 1870, under the leadership 
of John D. Rockefeller. It grew by consolidation with other companies 
until it consisted of thirty-three subsidiary corporations, which were dis- 
solved under decree of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1912. 

- The first American Bessemer works were erected at Cleveland, Ohio, 
and at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 



409 



the " Father of Waters." The Eads steel-arch railway bridge, 
which ranks as one of the greatest of the world, was con- 
structed in St. Louis, in 1874. The greatest work in suspen- 




EADS BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI AT ST. LOUIS 

sion bridges was the Brooklyn Bridge from New York to 
Brooklyn, begun in 1870, and opened to traffic in 1883.^ 

Strikes and Trades-union. In the summer of 1877 there 
w^ere extensive strikes among the employees of several rail- 
roads. The first occurred on the Baltimore and Ohio, and 
was caused by a reduction in wages. Soon on other roads 
strikes followed until transportation from New York to 
Kansas and from Michigan to Texas w^as seriously inter- 
rupted. In many places the strikes were attended by rioting 
and bloodshed. The violence was greatest at Pittsburg, where 
the rioters held control of the town for several days. About 
one hundred lives were lost, several trains and stations were 
burned, and millions of dollars' worth of property was de- 
stroyed. Federal troops were sent to the scenes of disturbance, 
and, after two weeks, order was restored. Trouble broke out 
also among the anthracite coal miners of Eastern Pennsyl- 

1 Since that time two other magnificent suspension bridges have been 
built connecting New York and Brooklyn. One, known as the Williams- 
burg Bridge, was completed in 1904, and the other, known as the Man- 
hattan Bridge, was opened for traffic in 1910. 



4IO STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

vania, and these laborers gained an advance of ten per cent in 
wages. Othe'r strikes followed in many callings in which the 
wages of the laborers were low. 

As a consequence of these troubles many trades-union were 
organized, though for several years skilled laborers had been 
united for protection. The printers' union, organized in New 
York City, in 1853. is the oldest labor union now in existence 
in the United States. In 1869 the order of the Knights of 
Labor was founded as a general society open to working men 
of all trades. After 1880 organizations of laborers became 
stronger and more active. In 1886 the American Federation 
of Labor was formed. 

Anti-Chinese Movement. During the great railroad strike 
of 1877, labor troubles broke out in California also, but they 
were incited by a different cause. Here it was a movement 
against the Chinese. In the Pacific section of the country 
there were upwards of one hundred thousand Chinese at that 
time, and they formed a large part of the laboring class, work- 
ing in the mines and on the farms. These people lived 
on the poorest of foods and in the meanest of dwellings, 
and worked for lower wages than the white men would accept. 
After earning a few hundred dollars, the Chinaman would 
return to his native land and tell of the riches and beauties 
of California. ■* Hordes of Chinamen would then rush to 
America and repeat the process. Such conditions kept wages 
low and worked a hardship on the white laborers of the Pacific 
states and territories. The working men formed an organiza- 
tion, the slogan of which was " The Chinese must go." They 
made demonstrations by processions through the streets, with 
banners bearing such mottoes as " Four dollars a day and 
roast beef." x\ttacks were made on the Chinese, and in many 
cases they were run out of the towns. Congress was asked 
to exclude Chinese immigrants from the country, and in 1882 
an act was passed which prohibited Chinese laborers from 
entering the United States for a period of ten years. 

1 The Chinese called California by a name which signifies " Gold Hills." 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 41 1 

New Inventions. During these years of development imme- 
diately after the War Between the States, the progress of Amer- 
ica in inventions was marvelous. If George Washington or 
Andrew Jackson could have revisited the land he would have 
almost believed himself in fairyland. Hundreds of new 
inventions and improvements on the old ones came into use. 
New systems of heating buildings by steamaiid hot air took 
the place of the old-fashioned stoves, levators for passen- 
gers and freight were installed in high buildings. Riding plows 
were introduced and other labor-saving farm machinery was 
invented or improved. There were compressed-air drills for 
mining, and many new safety appliances to use on the rail- 
roads, notably the Westinghouse brake, which was introduced 
in 1868.^ There were improved firearms, especially the Maxim 
automatic machine gun, and a new explosive, dynamite, came 
into use. The typewriter was first put on the market in 1874; 
typesetting and typecasting machines were perfected about 
1890, and these have cheapened the making of books and news- 
papers. 

Jetties at the Mouth of the Mississippi. A great achieve- 
ment of engineering was the construction of jetties for deep- 
ening the channel at the mouth of the Mississippi.^ Captain 
James B. Eads, who constructed the famous steel-arch bridge 
at St. Louis, proposed the jetty system which confines the 
water to a narrower channel and the swifter current car- 
ries the deposit of sediment out to the sea. In 1875 Congress 
appropriated a large sum of money for the work, and in four 
years it was completed. The largest ocean-going steamers 
could now go up the ri\-er to New Orleans. 

1 The Westinghouse hrake, one of the greatest inventions of the cen- 
tury, has been of inestimable benefit in preventing accidents to employees 
of railroads. 

- Great shoals had formed at the mouth of the river by the deposit of 
sediment brought down the stream, and this not only hindered naviga- 
tion, but raised the level of the river so that every freshet poured over 
tlie banks and Hooded the neighboring country. A similar set of jetties 
was used in deepening the harbor at Galveston, which is our second 
largest export city. 



412 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



A ship canal was built between Lake Superior and Lake 
Huron, around the falls of the Sault Ste. Marie, for the benefit 
of the enormous lake traffic in iron, coal, grain, and lumber. 
Harbors were improved at Chicago, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Cleve- 
land, and other lake ports. 

Electrical Development. Electricity was brought into use 
during this period in many new and wonderful ways. Franklin 
himself, who " snatched the lightning from the skies," would 
have marveled. The most prominent among the men who 

were connected with these 
remarkable inventions is 
Thomas A. Edison,, who 
has taken out more than 
a thousand patents. Elec- 
tricity had already been 
put to use in the telegraph. 
It was now employed for 
lighting houses and streets. 




C. F. Brush devised an arc 
light suitable for streets, 
and in 1879 lights of this 
kind were used in San 
Francisco. Li the same 
year Edison made the first 
practical incandescent light, 
such as we now use in our 
houses.^ The telephone 
was invented in 1876, by 
Elisha Gray of Chicago 
and Alexander Graham Bell of Boston, acting independently. - 
People could hardly believe their ears when they heard the 
voices of their friends coming from a distance over the wire. 
The use of the telephone soon became common and it was not 
long before the invention \Aas rivaling the telegraph. Edison, 

1 In 1882 the first incandescent lighting plant was opened in New York 
City. 

2 Gray and Bell applied for patents on the very same day. 



THOMAS A. EDISON 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 



413 




C'upyright Underwood & Underwood 

IN A TUBE, UNDER THE ELEVATED AND SURFACE 
TRACKS, ARE THE " SUB-WAY " TRACKS 



in 1877, invented the phonograph or "sound writer," which 

made and reproduced records of the human voice and of 

musical instruments. 

The megaphone, a 

simple paper funnel 

through which the 

voice could be heard 

at a great distance, 

was invented in 

J 879. 
Rapid Means of 

Transportat ion. 

There was a great 

demand for rapid 

transportation with- 
in the cities as the 

horse-cars were not 

practicable for long 

distances. In 1876 work was begun on a system of elevated 

railways for the greater cities.^ In San Francisco cable cars 

w^ere introduced in 1879, 
but in twenty years they 
were practically supplanted 
by the electric trolley car 
which took its power from 
a wire overhead. The suc- 
cess of this invention dates 
back in 1880.2 

The bicycle appeared in 
the seventies — a curious 
big wheel with a tiny wheel 

in the rear; soon it was replaced by the low wheel " safety " 

bicycle of to-day and this has been followed by the motor- 

1 The first elevated railroad in the world was built on Greenwich Street, 
New York City, in 1866-67. 

- The first electric trolley line was established in Richmond, Virginia, 
in 1888, and, this proving successful, electric lines were soon built in all 
the leading cities of the country. 




AUTOMOBILE 



414 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




■^K^EOssstassSSSi&r 



C.ipyright Umle 



WRIGHT FLYING MACHINE 



cycle. At the close of the century the automobile found its 
way into the remotest neighborhoods. By the dawn of the 

twentieth century a 
still stranger means 
of transportation 
was developed, the 
aeroplane, or flying 
machine, which was 
first made practica- 
ble by the Wright 
Brothers of Dayton, 
Ohio.i 

Polar Exploration. 
The United States was interested also in Arctic explora- 
tion and discovery. In 1879 the New York Herald fitted 
out an expedition to search for the north pole. The little 
steamer Jeannette, under Commodore De Long, sailed from 
San Francisco, and for two years the expedition remained 
in the Arctic north. The boat was locked in the ice and 
the few survivors finally reached the coast of Siberia. An 
expedition was sent out in 1881, at government expense, 
under Lieutenant A. W. Greely. Nothing was heard of 
the party until July, 1884, when Captain W. S. Schley, with 
a relief expedition, rescued Greely and six of his men who 
were the sole survivors of the party.^ The north pole was 
actually discovered by Commander Robert F. Peary of the 
United States Navy April 6, 1909. In recognition of his 
achievement Congress has placed him upon the retired list 
wnth the rank of rear-admiral. On December 14, 191 1, the 
soutji pole was discovered by Captain Roald Amundsen, a 
Norwegian explorer. 

1 In 191 1 C. P. Rodgers made a trip in a flying machine across the conti- 
nent from New York to Los Angeles, a distance of three thonsand two 
hundred and twenty miles. His machine was wrecked and repaired 
several times, and he had eight dangerous falls. The journey required 
fifty-nine days, and of actual flying about three days. On April 3, 1912, 
Rodgers was killed in one of his flights. 

- In 1878 the United States government established a life-saving service, 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 415 

Growth of Population. In 1880 the population of the 
United States was a little over fifty millions, which was an m- 
crease of eleven millions over 1870. As usual the greatest 
increase was in the West, and especially in the states of 
Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, the Dakotas, and Texas. De- 
velopment of agriculture and the discovery of gold and other 
mineral wealth were chiefly responsible for the increase in 
population. The cattle and the grain of the West were needed 
to meet the demand for food in the rapidly growing manu- 
facturing cities. It seemed that a city grew at the head and 
at the mouth of every navigable river. Only one-twentieth 
of the people of the United States lived in cities of over eight 
thousand inhabitants in 1800; in 1870 one-fifth, and in 1880 
one- fourth of the population resided in such cities. In 1880 
New York was the greatest city, as she has been since the 
first census ; Philadelphia was second ; St. Louis and Chicago 
were rivals for the third place, and many other cities which 
were hardly more than villages twenty years before had now 
attained large proportions. 

Presidential Election of 1880. The year 1880 was a presi- 
dential election year. General Grant had. just returned from 
a tour of the world and was acclaimed with great honors. 
Some of the Republican leaders wished to nominate him for 
a third term, but public opinion sustained the precedent set 
by Washington and Jefferson, who declared it unwise for one 
man to hold the ofiice for more than two terms. James 
G. Blaine of Maine was the most conspicuous candidate for 
the Republican nomination, but there was a strong faction in 
the party opposed to him, and, on this account, James A. Gar- 
field of Ohio, a " dark horse," was nominated. Chester A. 
Arthur of New York w^as nominated for the Vice-presidency. 
The Democrats nominated Winfield Scott Hancock of New 
York for the Presidency and \\'illiam H. English of Indiana 
for the Vice-presidency. The Greenback party nominated 

the first in the world, to be carried on as a j^overnment institution. The 
weather bureau was established just after the war, to give warning of 
storms and forecast changes in temperature. 



4i6 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

James B. Weaver of Iowa and B. J. Chambers of Texas for 
first and second place. The Prohibitionists named Neal Dow 
of Maine/ Every candidate for the Presidency bore the title 
of general. Garfield was elected. ^ 

Assassination of Garfield. On March 4 the new Presi- 
dent took the oath of office, and the capital city was illuminated 
with electricity for the inaugural ceremonies. Just four 
months afterwards President Garfield was assassinated by 
Charles J. Guiteau, whom he had refused to appoint to office.^ 
The President lingered many weeks during the hot summer 
months. On the night of September 19, he died, and before 
day the next morning President Arthur took the oath of 
office at his home in New York City.^ 

Civil Service Reform. Garfield's tragic death at the hands 
of a disappointed office seeker brought forcibly to public at- 
tention the need for reform in the civil service. Ever since 

1 The anti-liquor movement had very much strengthened since the for- 
mation of the Washingtonian Societies in the first half of the nineteenth 
century. In 1874 Frances E. Willard and other earnest women formed 
the Women's Christian Temperance Uliion, now the largest organization 
of women in the world. It has aided in the passage of anti-liquor laws, 
and has created public opinion in behalf of temperance. Miss Willard, 
as educator and temperance lecturer, was known and loved throughout 
the nation. There are now seven states that have prohibition, and two 
that have it except in certain large cities. 

- James A. Garfield was born in Ohio, in 1831. Left fatherless at an 
early age, he was forced to provide for himself even in his youth, but by 
alternate periods of manual labor and of study, he succeeded in obtaining 
an education. He was graduated at Williams College, Ohio, in 1856, and 
spent the years of his early manhood as a teacher. In the War Between 
the States Garfield served on the Union side, and rose to the rank of 
major-general. From 1863 to 1880 he was a representative in Congress 
from his native state, and in 1876 was a member of the Electoral Com- 
mission. In 1880 his state had elected him to the United States Senate, 
which position he resigned when he was nominated for the Presidency. 
He died in New Jersey, September 19, 1881. 

3 Charles J. Guiteau was tried for murder, found guilty, and executed 
in Washington, June 30, 1882. 

* Chester A. Arthur, the fourth accidental President of the United 
States, was born in Vermont, in 1830. He was a graduate of Union 
College, and in 1853 began the practice of law in New York City. During 
the war he served at different times as quarter-master and inspector- 
general of New York state troops. In 187 1 President Grant appointed 
him collector of customs at the port of New York, from which position 
he was removed in 1878 by President Hayes. In 1880 he was elected to 
the Vice-presidency of the United States. He died in 1886. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 4I7 

Jackson's time Washington had been besieged by office seek- 
ers with the incoming of each new President. Some effort 
had been made to fill positions in the civil service on the 
basis of merit, bnt little progress had been made to this end. 
In January, 1883, a Civil Service Act was passed providing 
for appointment to certain offices on the basis of competitive 
examinations. President Arthur was an earnest advocate of 
this reform. The number of places to be filled under the 
competitive system has been materially increased during suc- 
ceeding years. ^ 

" Star Route " Frauds. Another circumstance that inten- 
sified the demand for reform in the civil service was the 
" star route " frauds in the West. The " star routes " were 
those mail routes in the West not yet reached by the rail- 
roads, where the mails were carried under private contract. 
This name was applied because the routes were indicated on 
the maps by stars. Combinations of the contractors on these 
routes in a single year had robbed the government of half 
a million dollars. Upon investigation it was discovered that 
prominent officials were making use of their positions in the 
interest of these dishonest contractors and several of these 
were removed from office. Other improvements in the mail 
service were the reduction of letter postage and the beginning 
of the special delivery of letters.^ 

Tariff of 1883. During President Arthur's term the public 
debt rapidly diminished and a surplus was piled up in the 
treasury amounting, in 1882, to one hundred and forty-five 
million dollars. This condition of the treasury suggested a 
reduction of the tariff which was yielding more revenue than 

1 New York established a civil service system in 1883, and soon other 
states followed her example. The merit system was likewise introduced 
into some of our cities. Several of the states passed stringent laws 
against bribery in elections. To protect voters the " Australian ballot " 
came into use by the states in 1888. This system protects the voter from 
interference and permits a free secret ballot. 

2 In 1883 letter postage was reduced from three cents per half ounce 
to two cents, and later it was further reduced to two cents per ounce. 
Another improvement in the mail service coming much later was the 
establishment of rural free delivery. 



41 8 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the government needed. The high tariff of the sixties, which 
was largely a war measure, was still in force. In 1882 a 
tariff commission was appointed upon the recommendation 
of the President to consider the qnestion of tariff revision. 
The outcome of this commission was the tariff of 1883, which, 
while it reduced a few of the duties, left those on the neces- 
saries of life substantially the same. Soon there was a money 
crisis, and this, together with crop failures, produced general 
distress. The new tariff pleased no one and in the presiden- 
tial election of the next year tariff revision was an important 
issue. 

Expositions. There were many important events outside 
of political affairs during the years from 1881 to 1885 that 
enlisted the interest of all the people. In 1881 our second 
Centennial Exposition was held; this time at Yorktown, in 
Virginia, commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of 
the surrender of Cornwallis.^ At the close of this exposi- 
tion, in order to show our friendship for the old mother 
country, a general salute was fired to the British flag. The 
rapid growth of the southern states was shown at two ex- 
positions : one at Atlanta, Georgia, and the other at New 
Orleans, Louisiana. At the International Cotton Exposition 
at Atlanta, in 1881, cotton was exhibited in all its forms of 
production and manufacture. It was shown that the cotton 
seed, which had formerly been thrown away, was valuable 
as food and as a fertilizer. A Cotton Centennial was held at 
New Orleans in 1884. This exposition served to promote 
trade relations with Mexico and the Central American coun- 
tries. 

Democratic Victory of 1884. The presidential election of 
1884 marked the return of the Democrats to power for the 
first time in twenty-four years. The Republicans declared 
in favor of a protective tariff and nominated their old leader, 
James G. Blaine of Maine for the Presidency and John A. 

^ A inonunient commemorating this event was dedicated at Yorktown, 
in 1881, in the presence of many distinguished Americans and foreigners. 



Time when noon 3.^0 A.M 
at Greenwich 




103° Lougitude 100° 'V^ 



'JM^AXSPORTATIOX ROUTES. 



e.eoiA.M 




(ii-.-onwich 



STANDARD 'IM M I'. DIVISIONS 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 



419 



Logan of Illinois for the Vice-presidency. The Democrats 
declared for tariff reform and chose a new leader, Grover 
Cleveland of New York for the first place and Thomas A. 
Hendricks of Indiana for 
the second place. The Green- 
back and Prohibition parties 
also had candidates in the 
field. ^ The campaign was ex- 
citing and there was much 
'' mud slinging " on both 
sides. Cleveland was sup- 
ported not only by the regular 
Democrats but by a consider- 
able faction of the Republi- 
cans called the "Mug-wumps " 
who were opposed to Blaine. - 
Cleveland was elected.^ 

The incoming of a Demo- 
cratic executive was expected 
to inaugurate an era of re- 
form, but Congress was di- 
vided between Democrats and Republicans and it was impos- 
sible for the Democratic party to carry out the policies which 

1 The Prohibitionists nominated John P. St. John of Kansas, and the 
Greenback party nominated Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts. Neither 
of these candidates received a single electoral vote. 

- The term " Mug-wump " is an Indian word meaning big or important 
man. The Republicans in derision applied this name to those of their 
party who ref.used to support the nominee. 

3 Grover Cleveland was born in New Jersey, in 1837, in the same year 
that Van Buren, the only President from New York thus far, was in- 
augurated. In 1841 Cleveland's father, a Presbyterian minister, with his 
-family moved to New York. Left fatherless at sixteen, he was forced 
to go to work for himself, and secured his first position as teacher in 
the New York school for the blind. Cleveland decided to move westward 
and seek his fortune. He started for Cleveland, Ohio, being attracted 
to that point by the name, but he went no farther than Buffalo, New 
York. Here he secured a position with a prominent law firm. He en- 
tered the practice of law, and after holding several minor public offices, 
was elected governor of New York, and in that position showed himself 
fearless in works of reform. In 1884 he was elected to the Presidency, 
and was elected again in 1892. At the close of his second term he re- 
tired to Princeton, New Jersey, and died there in 1908. 




GROVER C'LEVEL.\ND 



420 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

had won the election.^ 'The President took a firm position 
both in civil service reform and against unnecessary pensions. 
His attitude developed much opposition in Congress and 
during his term of office he Vetoed three hundred and one 
bills. 

Friendliness between North and South. Cleveland, at 
this time especially, was very popular in the South, and his 
administration was marked by many events that exhibited a 
spirit of reconciliation between the sections. Two of the 
President's cabinet, A. H. Garland of Arkansas and L. O. C. 
Lamar of Mississippi, were Confederate veterans. In 1886 
a terrible earthquake brought disaster to the city of Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, and the people of the North and West 
responded with relief to the stricken city. In 1885 General 
Grant died at Mt. McGregor, near Saratoga, New York. His 
body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, New York, over- 
looking the Hudson. A splendid mausoleum now marks the 
spot. Six Confederate generals attended his funeral. 

In 1889, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, 
died at his home, Beauvoir, in Mississippi, and the whole South 
mourned the death of its great chieftain. His body was laid 
to rest in New Orleans, but later it was removed to Richmond, 
Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. A beautiful me- 
morial erected by the people of the South marks the spot. 

Repeal of the Tenure of Office Act; Presidential Succes- 
sion Act. Notwithstanding the fact that Congress was di- 
vided, Cleveland's first administration showed much serviceable 
legislation. In 1877 the Tenure of Office Act, which had 
caused such a storm of protest when it was enacted during 
Johnson's administration, was formally repealed. The Elec- 
toral Count Act was passed in 1887.- 

The death of Vice-president Hendricks, in 1885, brought 

1 The House was Democratic but the Senate was still Republican. 

- The purpose of this act was to prevent the recurrence of such a 
crisis as occurred in the election of 1876. It provides that each state 
shall be the judge of its own electoral votes and, in case of a dispute, 
the matter must be settled by a resolution of the two houses of Congress. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 421 

forcibly to the attention of the country the necessity of making 
provision for the presidential succession. The old law passed 
in 1792 had provided that in case of the death or disability 
of both the President and the Vice-president, the president pro- 
tempore of the Senate should succeed, and in the event of his 
disability the speaker of the House of Representatives. But 
in 1885, when the Vice-president died, Congress had not or- 
ganized and there were no such officers.-^ In January, 1886, 
a new Presidential Succession Act was passed, which pro- 
vided that in case of the death or disability of the President 
and the Vice-president the members of the cabinet should suc- 
ceed in the following order: Secretary of State, Secretary 
of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Attorney-general, Post- 
master-general, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the In- 
terior, Secretary of Agriculture, and Secretary of Commerce 
and Labor.2 

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. An act of more vital 
importance at the time than any of the preceding was the Inter- 
state Commerce Act of 1887. The federal government had 
expended a great deal of money in the improvement of 
Avater ways and harbors, but until 1887 it had exercised 
no control over the railroads, notwithstanding the fact that 
the regulation of interstate commerce was vested, by the 
Constitution, in Congress.^ The railroads had grown into 
a vast network of steel, binding state to state and ocean to 
ocean. There were many complaints against the railroads 
because of high rates and discriminations in favor of large 

1 Practically the same situation faced the country when Garfield died. 
Congress had not assembled, and there was no one to succeed to the 
Presidency if Arthur had died. 

2 At the time of the passage of this law there were only seven cabinet 
positions. The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce 
and Labor have since been added, and were placed on the presidential 
succession list by special acts. 

3 General discontent was expressed in the " Granger movement " in the 
West. The term " Granger " was first applied to members of the " Patrons 
of Husbandry," or the " Grange." The Farmers Alliance, a later organiza- 
tion of farmers, likewise voiced a protest against the rates and the prac- 
tices of the railroads. This organization was strong, especially in the 
South and West. Its national organization was not completed until 1889. 



422 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

shippers. As a result of these practices the farmers in the 
South and West and the small manufacturers in every part 
of the country suffered. In 1887 Congress passed the Inter- 
state Commerce Act, which prohibited the railroads from mak- 
ing discriminations or from charging unjust rates for service, 
and created a commission of five persons to hear complaints 
against railroads and to make reports concerning their 
business. At first the Interstate Commerce Commission had 
small powers, but from time to time the act was amended 
and now the commission has authority to correct abuses and 
compel fair treatment. 

Labor Troubles; Hay-Market Riots. Labor troubles were 
beginning to grow more and more serious. There was wide- 
spread discontent among working men, and through their un- 
ions they were demanding higher wages and shorter hours. 
Many strikes resulted. In the early months of 1886 there 
were nearly five hundred disputes in various parts of the 
country, involving many trades. The trouble was most acute 
in Chicago, where a mob gathered in Hay-Market Square 
to listen to speeches in open advocacy of violence and an- 
archy. The police ordered the mob to disperse, whereupon 
a bomb that killed seven policemen and wounded sixty oth- 
ers was hurled from the crowd. -^ The country was horrified 
at this outrageous act. Seven of the leaders were sentenced 
to be executed. 

As this frightful crime was supposed to be the result of 
the teachings of foreign anarchists who had immigrated to 
America, an effort was made in Congress to exclude unde- 
sirable foreigners.^ Since 1870 a stream of immigrants from 

^ In 1884 serious riots occurred in Cincinnati. Here a mob, incensed 
at the lax administration of justice, broke into the jail and attempted to 
hang some prisoners accused of murder. The attack was unsuccessful, 
but the rioters burned the court house and other buildings. The militia 
finally restored order, but not until forty-five persons had been killed, 
and one hundred and forty-eight wounded. 

- The immigration laws became more stringent. Since 1882 several acts 
have been passed for the exclusion of the Chinese and other undesirable 
classes. Persons afflicted with certain diseases have been excluded, and 
the head tax on immigrants was increased to two and then to four dollars. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 



423 



Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, Russia, Norway and Sweden had 
been pouring into the United States. 

A Gift from France. The majority of the immigrants 
who come into the country from the East enter at the port 
of New York, and here stands a 
colossal bronze statue of " Liberty 
Enlightening the World," which 
represents the teachings and ex- 
ample of free government in the 
Republic of the West. This statue, 
which stands on Bedloe's Island, 
now known as Liberty Island, was 
the gift of the people of the re- 
public of France to the people of 
the republic of the United States 
in recognition of the grateful love 
which the American people enter- 
tain for Lafayette. The gift was 
designed to commemorate the one 
hundredth anniversary of Ameri- 
can independence, though it was 
not placed until 1885 and not un- 
veiled until October, 1886. The 
statue is a female figure holding 
aloft a torch. It is the tallest statue 
in the world ; it measures over one 

hundred and fifty-one feet and rests on a pedestal one hundred 
and fifty feet high. Forty persons can stand within the head, 
to which there is a staircase within the statue. The torch is 
equipped with an electric light. The statue is the work of Bar- 
tholdi, a distinguished French sculptor. 

The Tariff Question and Election of 1888. The tariff ques- 
tion attracted much attention during Cleveland's first adminis- 
tration. There was a surplus in the treasury amounting to 
more than four hundred and twenty-two million dollars. A 
bill was introduced in 1888 to reduce the duties on imports 




copyright Underwood & Undorw..od 

THE BARTHOLDI STATUE OF 
LIBERTY 



424 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

and this was known as the Mills Bill, from its author, Roger 
Q. Mills of Texas, chairman of the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee of the House. The measure failed in the Senate where 
the Republicans were in the majority. 

The year 1888 was presidential election year and the tariff 
became the main issue between the two great parties. The 
Democrats stood for tariff reduction and renominated Cleve- 
land for the Presidency and Allen G. Thurman, the " Old 
Roman " of Ohio, for the Vice-presidency. The Republicans 
advocated high protective duties and nominated for the Presi- 
dency Benjamin Harrison ^ of Indiana a grandson of William 
Henry Harrison who had been President for one brief month, 
in 1 84 1, and Levi P. Morton of New York for the second 
place. Both the Prohibitionists and the Independent Labor 
parties had candidates in the field. Harrison was elected, 
receiving two hundred and thirty-three electoral votes to one 
hundred and sixty-eight for Cleveland." 

McKinley Tariff and Other Legislation. The Republican 
victory was followed by a new tariff act, the McKinley Tar- 
iff of 1890, carrying the highest duties ever imposed. The 
bill distinctly recognized the policy of reciprocity, by which it 
was provided that the United States might abolish duties on 
goods coming from certain countries upon the condition that 
these countries were to admit American goods free. 

Congress passed an act in 1890, known as the Sherman Anti- 
trust Law, for the prevention and punishment of combinations 
or agreements in restraint of interstate trade. It was de- 
signed to put a stop to the organization of all monopolies and 
to restore competition in business. 

There was decided discontent in the South and West with 

^ Benjamin Harrison was born in Ohio, in 1S33. He received a liberal 
education, studied law in Cincinnati, and settled down to practice in 
Indianapolis. He entered the Federal army in 1862, and by the close of 
the struggle had risen to the rank of brevet brigadier-general. He served 
in the United States Senate from 1881 to 1887. After the end of his 
term as President he resumed the practice of law in Indianapolis, and 
died in that city in 1901. 

- Cleveland received a plurality of over one hundred thousand of the 
popular vote. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 425 

the Bland-Allison Act, which provided for the limited coinage 
of the silver dollar. This act was repealed and instead the 
Sherman Silver Law was passed, which provided that the gov- 
ernment should purchase and coin a greater quantity of silver 
every month. ^ 

The Republicans made such liberal appropriations that the 
first Congress of Harrison's term was called the " billion 
dollar Congress." Its appropriations were one hundred and 
seventy million dollars more than the appropriations of its 
predecessor. A Dependent Pension Act was passed, greatly 
increasing the number of northern soldiers and sailors who 
were deemed entitled to pensions from the government; in 
fact the number was about doubled and the annual pension ap- 
propriation soon reached over a hundred million dollars.- 

In 1883, when President Arthur was in office, a movement 
to rehabilitate the navy had begun and from that time for- 
ward the building of new ships was authorized by each Con- 
gress. William C. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy under 
President Cleveland, gave further impetus to the development 
of the navy. In Harrison's time so many new ships were 
built that the expenditures increased from seventeen millions 
in 1889 to thirty millions in 1893. The United States now 
had an imposing " white squadron " of cruisers and a num- 
ber of torpedo boats and gunboats, and we rose from twelfth 
to fifth place among the naval powers of the world. ^ 

New States and Territories. The region of the plains and 
beyond the mountains was rapidly filling up with people as 
new immigrants and settlers from the old states followed 
the railroads westward. Colorado and Utah were settled first, 

1 This act provided for the purchase of four and one-half milHon ounces 
of silver bullion every month. This was deposited in the Treasury as 
security for treasury notes which were redeemable in gold or silver. 

2 In 1889, at the l)eginning of Harrison's term, the pensioners num- 
bered about four hundred and ninety thousand, and drew eighty million 
dollars a year. This amount was just about doubled at the end of Har- 
rison's administration. 

3 In time of peace the ships of the navy of the United States are painted 
white ; in time of war they are painted slate color. The United States in 
191 1 ranked third among the naval powers of tlic world. 



426 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



and, as has been noted heretofore, Colorado was admitted to 
the Union in the Centennial year, 1876. Utah had been organ- 
ized as a territory in 1850, and in 1880 the population was 
nearly fifty thousand. But Utah was not to be admitted until 
the Mormons abandoned the practice of polygamy. In 1882 
an anti-polygamy law was passed and in 1887 it was made 
more stringent. Utah was not admitted until 1896. Before 




STREET IN OKLAHOMA CITY IN I9I2 



this date, however, six other new states were admitted. Da- 
kota- was divided and admitted as two states, North Dakota 
and South Dakota, in 1889; in the same year Montana and 
Washington were admitted, and in 1890 Idaho and Wyoming.^ 

1 Wyoming granted woman's suffrage. This movement has grown until 
in the twentieth century five other states, namely, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, 
Washington, and California give women the right to vote. In many other 



•DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 427 

The pressure of population westward made encroachment on 
the Indian reservations and many settlers looked with covetous 
eyes upon the Indian lands. In order to satisfy the demand 
for lands the government bought from the Indians portions of 
their holdings.^ The rich district of Oklahoma, a part of the 
Indian territory, was purchased and opened to settlement at 
twelve o'clock on April 22, 1889. As the blast of the bugle 
announced the hour there was a wild rush across the borders 
into the " beautiful land," ^ and in one year's time more than 
sixty thousand people settled in the territory of Oklahoma. In 
1907 Oklahoma and Indian Territory were combined and ad- 
mitted to the Union as the state of Oklahoma. 

Foreign Complications. Several interesting matters con- 
cerning our foreign relations occurred during Harrison's ad- 
ministration. That portion of the treaty of Washington which 
dealt with the fishing rights off the Grand Banks had expired in 
1885 and American fishermen possessed but few rights in 
Canadian waters. The question had been satisfactorily ad- 
justed during Cleveland's administration, but it was hardly set- 
tled before fresh trouble developed with Great Britain concern- 
ing the seal fisheries in Bering Sea. Seal fur was very valu- 
able and there was a wholesale butchering of seals by Canadian 
and British hunters. The United States protested against this 
and claimed that they had exclusive jurisdiction over Bering 
Sea and that no other nations had the right to hunt seals there. 
The matter was referred to a tribunal of arbitration which met 
at Paris and in 1893 decided against the United States.^ 

states women are allowed to vote in certain elections, ^particularly in 
school elections. The demand for woman's sufifrage is much stronger 
in the West than in the older and more conservative East and South ; but 
in the eastern states there has been a strong movement for the suffrage, 
led i)y Susan B. Anthony and other influential women. 

1 This demand caused the United States government to make an effort 
to recover lands granted to the railroads in the West, and used by them 
contrary to the spirit of the law. Eighty million acres were recovered 
during President Cleveland's administration. 
-The name Oklahoma is an Indian word meaning the "beautiful land." 
" Nations have control of the sea three miles from their shore line 
and exclusive control of closed seas. The United States claimed that 
Bering Sea was a closed sea, but this view was abandoned before the 



428 ■ STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Our friendly relations with Italy were strained by an un- 
fortunate occurrence in New Orleans. The chief of police 
of that city was treacherously assassinated, and citizens gen- 
erally believed that the crime was committed by Italians who 
were connected \yith a secret society known as the " Mafia." 
Eleven Italians were tried for the offense and convicted, but 
the people felt that the punishment prescribed was not severe 
enoug'h. A great crowd gathered and battered down the doors 
of the jail, seized the Italians, and put them to death, March, 
1 89 1. Eight of these were naturalized American citizens but 
three of them were Italian subjects, and for these Italy de- 
manded reparation. Finally the United States agreed to pay 
twenty-five thousand dollars to the families of the slain. 

Chile and Samoa. In 1891 a serious break came in our 
relations with Chile. That country was in the throes of a 
revolution and one of the factions was hostile to the United 
States. The hostility was expressed in an attack on the sail- 
ors of the United States ship Baltimore who were in the city 
of Valparaiso on shore leave. The populace assaulted them 
with knives and clubs and the sailors were driven to their 
ship. One man was killed. The United States government 
immediately demanded reparation and apology for the outrage, 
and when Chile was slow to comply threatened war. Chile 
then promptly agreed to pay a money indemnity of seventy- 
five thousand dollars. 

The interest of the United States was attracted to a little 
group of islands in the South Pacific known as the Samoan 
Islands. We had a coaling station there, and, together with 
Germany and Great Britain, established a protectorate over 
the islands. In 1899 this agreement was dissolved and the 
United States received the island of Tutuila (too-too-e la) ; the 
remainder of the Samoan group was transferred to Germany. 

arbitration. Each party to the controversy named two arbitrators, and 
three other powers were requested to name one each. The decision, 
reached August, 1893, upheld Great Britain's claims on all points. We 
afterwards paid to British scalers $473,151.26 as damages to them caused 
by our regulation of sealing before the settlement. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 429 

Strike among the Steel Workers. In the midst of the presi- 
dential campaign of 1892 a terrible labor strike broke out 
among the steel workers. In the summer of that year the 
employees of the Carnegie Steel Company at Homestead, 
Pennsylvania, a town near Pittsburg, struck for higher wages. 
As the trouble grew serious the company employed a large 
body of Pinkerton detectives, who marched against the strik- 
ers. A battle ensued in which seven detectives and eleven 
workmen were killed. The militia was called out to put down 
the disorder, and in November the strike ended. There were 
other labor outbreaks in New York. 

Election of 1892. As the election of 1892 approached there 
was a growing dissatisfaction with the McKinley Tariff, and 
in the South and West there was a demand for the repeal 
of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and for the free coinage 
of silver. The Republicans again declared in favor of a high 
tariff and nominated Harrison for the Presidency and White- 
law Reid of New York for the Vice-presidency. Grover 
Cleveland was again the nominee of his party, which stood for 
a revenue tariff. A third party, known as the Populists or 
" People's Party," developed a great deal of strength in this 
election.^ Cleveland was elected and was our first President 
to serve a second term that was not consecutive with the 
first. Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois was elected to the office 
of V^ice-president on the Democratic ticket. 

Panic; Tariff of 1894. In the summer of 1893, just a few 
months after Cleveland's second inauguration, a severe panic 
swept over the country. Many business houses failed, fac- 
tories were shut down, and thousands of men were thrown 
out of work.^ A special session of Congress was called to 

^ Tlie candidates of this party were James B. Weaver of Iowa and 
James G. Field of Virginia. The Prohibitionists and the Socialist Labor 
party also had candidates in the field. 

-A large body of unemployed men, under the leadership of Jacob S. 
Coxey, and popularly described as " Co.Kcy's army," marched to Wash- 
ington in the spring of 1894, to urge upon Congress certain legislation 
which they thought would bring relief. On May i the army reached 



430 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

consider measures of relief. The Sherman Silver Law was 
repealed and bonds were issued to be sold for gold in order 
to increase the aA'ailable supply of that coin for redeeming 
other currency. In 1894 a new tariff measure, known as the 
Wilson Bill, became a law; this bill reduced the duties of the 
McKinley Tariff. President Cleveland did not believe that 
the tariff bill was what the party had demanded, because it 
did not provide sufficient reductions, and, while he would not 
veto it, he would not approve it, and it became a law without 
his signature. 

Pullman Strike in Chicago. The panic of 1893 caused great 
suffering among the working classes. Hundreds of thousands 
of men were out of employment, and to add to the general dis- 
tress there were short crops in the South and West for several 
years. Business depression and a general spirit of discontent 
again led to strikes among the working men of various trades. 
Conditions were worst in Chicago. The Pullman Car Com- 
pany at Pullman, a surburb of Chicago, discharged some of 
its workmen and reduced wages on account of general hard 
times. The Pullman employees resisted and went on a strike, 
and other unions of railway men on lines of railways which 
used the Pullman cars decided to go out in a sympathetic 
strike unless the Pullman Company would consent to settle 
the trouble with its employees by arbitration. This demand 
was denied, and extensive strikes followed. Trains were 
stopped by mobs, Pullman coaches were burned, and much 
railroad property was destroyed. The rioting and bloodshed 
continued for several days until practically all the railroad 
traffic at Chicago was suspended. There was a demand upon 
President Cleveland to exercise the power of the federal gov- 
ernment on the ground of interference with the transportation 
of United States mails. Under the Constitution the President 
may send troops to put down a disturbance within a state when 

Washington, and in the presence of thousands of spectators marched 
to the capitol building. Here Coxey and two others were arrested for 
trespassing on the grass, and the army melted away. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 



431 



so requested by the governor or the slate legislature.^ No 
such request was made, but President Cleveland, in the exer- 
cise of his authority to protect the mails and interstate com- 
merce, sent Federal troops to Cliicago wlio f|uickly suppressed 
the rioting and restored peacc.- 

World's Fair at Chicago, 1893. In the midst of this period 



Ife^'.Vv 






^-<- 



■ft ,K:T^frymf^^4^'V''' 




i \k 



COURT OF HONOR, WORLD S FAIR, CHICAGO 

of depression the United States celebrated the four hundreth 
anniversary of the discovery of America. A World's Colum- 

^ Governor Altgeld of Illinois resented the sending of Federal troops 
into the state. He said that Illinois was able to take care of herself. 

- The labor problem is one of the greatest of modern times. When 
the industries of the world were conducted upon a small scale, and 
employer and employee worked side by side in the same shop, the under- 
standing was so complete that there seldom was cause for strife. But 
the organization of great enterprises with millions of capital and thou- 
sands of employees has altered these simple conditions. The employer 
and the employee in large establishments may never see each other; and, 
lacking the sympathy and understanding of personal contact, they are 
more easily embittered. Moreover, advancing civilization and enlighten- 
ment create a proper desire among the working men for more comfort, 
while conditions of public health and education make a demand for shorter 
hours and easier terms of labor. During the last few years the increased 
cost of living has further fortified the claim of workingmen. The pres- 
ent tendency, however, notwithstanding occasional strikes, is toward con- 
ciliation and arbitration between capitalists and laborers. 



432 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

bian Exposition was held at Chicago, in 1893.^ Its magni- 
tude and splendor delighted every beholder. On the borders 
of Lake Michigan, on a site covering more than six hundred 
and forty acres, the beautiful " White City," as the exposition 
w^as called, was erected. There were nearly one hundred and 
fifty buildings constructed of " staff," a material made of 
plaster of Paris and jute fiber, which looks like white marble. 
Foreign nations made generous displays at the exposition, and 
never before in all the world was there gathered together such 
a collection of the products of the arts and sciences. The 
success of this great fair aroused the pride of all Americans 
and challenged the admiration of the whole world. 

The Atlanta Exposition. Two years after the close of the 
exposition at Chicago, another exposition on a smaller scale 
was held at Atlanta, Georgia. This exposition revealed anew 
to the world the vast progress of the South. ^ Cotton was 
still her king, but her yield of grain and lumber and her manu- 
factures had grown by leaps and bounds. Her mineral wealth 
was being developed; in 1901 petroleum was found in large 
quantities in Texas, and later in Louisiana and Oklahoma. 

Hawaii and Venezuela. During Cleveland's second admin- 
istration there were two interesting events in our foreign re- 
lations. The Hawaiian Islands, a tiny monarchy in the Pacific 
Ocean about two thousand one hundred miles west of San 
Francisco, had been developed largely by the missionary zeal 
and enterprise of Americans. The country was often in a 
state of revolution, and finally a faction composed mostly of 
foreigners deposed Queen Liliuokalani (leTe-66-o-ka-la'ne) 
and set up a provisional government which requested annexa- 
tion to the United States. Just at the close of President Har- 

1 The exposition was to have been held in 1892, but the preparations 
could not be made in time. 

- The growth of Birmingham, Alabama, may be taken as an illustration 
of the industrial development of the South. This town was laid out in 
June, 1871, and in the following December was chartered as a city with 
a population of 1,000. In 1880 it had a population of 3,086; in 1890, 
26,178; in 1900, 38,415; in 1910, 132,685. The chief cause of this growth 
is the mineral wealth of North Alabama. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION 



433 



rison's administration a treaty of annexation was sent to the 
Senate for ratification. Shortly after Cleveland was inau- 
gurated, however, the treaty was withdrawn upon his recom- 
mendation, and, upon investigation of conditions within the 
islands, President Cleveland declared that we had no right 
to assume the government of a people without their consent. 
But we established a protectorate over the islands and later, 
in 1898, under Cleve- 
land's successor, they 
were annexed to the 
United States. 

The other foreign af- 
fair grew out of trouble 



'\>>: 

^ 



Hanalei ., 4 



Vc^^, 



'"'^c 



'^^A^'SM*- ».'»°rv foV-O* S.^--^'" 








HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 



between Great Britain 
and the South American 
republic of Venezuela. 
For half a centuiy these 
two countries had been 
quarreling over the 
western boundary of British Guiana. Venezuela had re- 
peatedly appealed to the United States to interpose in her 
behalf. Finally, in 1895, when the aggressions of the British 
were becoming more marked, the United States urged that the 
boundary dispute be settled by arbitration. This Great Britain 
refused to do. Then President Cleveland issued a proclama- 
tion to the effect that it would be a violation of the Monroe 
Doctrine for the United States to permit any aggression or 
injustice by a foreign power against any of the American Re- 
publics, and that such aggression would be resisted by the 
United States. Acting under the authority of Congress, the 
President appointed a commission to determine the western 
boundary of British Guiana. Great Britain then manifested 
a willingness to settle the matter by arbitration, and in 1896 
the dispute was satisfactorily adjusted. 

Election of 1896. As the presidential election of 1896 drew 



434 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

near, it became evident that the chief issue was to be the 
silver question. Many people believed that the repeal of the 
Sherman Silver Law and the demonetization of silver were 
the main causes of the hard times which had prevailed for 
several years. The Republicans declared in favor of a gold 
standard, or of both gold and silver under an agreement with 
foreign powers that would maintain the two metals at a fixed 
ratio. They nominated William McKinley of Ohio and Gar- 
rett A. Hobart of New Jersey for the Presidency and Vice- 
presidency respectively. The Democrats declared in favor of 
the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen 
to one, independently of the action of any country. William 
Jennings Bryan, a young and ardent silver Democrat from 
Nebraska, was nominated for the Presidency and Arthur 
Sew^all, of Maine, was nominated for the Vice-presidency. 
The Populists endorsed the nomination of Bryan, but they 
named Thomas E. Watson of Georgia for the Vice-presidency. 
A large number of Democrats wdio opposed free silver re- 
fused to support Bryan and nominated John M. Palmer of 
IlHnois and Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky for the Presi- 
dency and Vice-presidency. McKinley and Hobart were 
elected. 

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. Why did the South recover so rapidly after 1876? 2. What is meant 
by the "gold standard"? by the "free coinage" of silver? 3. How did 
the building of the trans-continental railroad bring up the question of 
immigration? Of labor unions? 4. Name six great" inventions by Edi- 
son. 5. Who invented the telephone? 6. What is meant by "civil serv- 
ice reform"? 7. What had been the motto with regard to appointment 
of government employees? Who originated it? 8. What effect did the 
assassination of Garfield have upon this question? Why? 9. What 
mainly caused Cleveland's success in 1884? 10. What was a "Mug- 
wump"? II. What caused trouble with Italy during this period? With 
England? With Chile? 12. How was each case settled? 13. What 
caused the panic of 1893? 14. What new party grew rapidly at this time? 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION ' 435 

15. What did this show as to conditions in the country? 16. Why did 
Governor Altgeld object to Federal troops in the Chicago trouble of 1894? 
17. What caused renewed prosperity in the later nineties? 18. Why could 
the United States not punish the men who lynched the Italians in New 
Orleans? 



CHAPTER XXVI 

SPANISH WAR AND ITS RESULTS: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 

William IMcKinley, President, 1897-1901 
Garrett A. Hobart, Vice-president, 1897-1899 
Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-president, 1901 
Theodore Roosevelt, President, 1901-1909 
Charles W. Fairbanks, Vice-president, 1904-1909 
William H. Taft, President, 1909-1913 
James S. Sherman, Vice-president, 1909-1913 

Financial Legislation. President McKinley ^ was the last 
of the veterans of the war between the North and the South 
to hold the office of chief executive of the nation. He 
was no sooner inaugurated than Congress set about passing a 
new tariff law which would raise the duties as high as the 
McKinley Tariff of 1890. The new tariff act was the Ding- 
ley Bill of 1897, which was the third tariff law within seven 
years. The Republicans had pledged themselves in the cam- 
paign of 1896 to use efforts to bring about an agreement 
among the great nations of the world for the free coinage 
of both gold and silver and the acceptance of either as legal 
tender in payment of debt. In April, 1897, President Mc- 
Kinley appointed a bi-metallic commission, called from the 
name of its chairman the Wolcott Commission, to confer 
v/ith European governments concerning the monetary problem. 
But no agreement was reached. By act of Congress of March 
14, 1900, the gold dollar was established as the unit of value. 

1 William McKinley was born in Ohio, in 1843. When the war began 
he was teacher in a country school, but he resigned his position and 
enhsted as a volunteer in the Federal army, rising to the rank of major. 
After the war he studied law and was elected to Congress from Ohio, 
in 1876, serving seven consecutive terms. In 1890 he took the principal 
part in framing the tariff law that bears his name. In 1891 he was elected 
governor of his state and in 1896. President. He was a man of great 
tact and deep sincerity. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENl EVENTS 437 



Trouble in Cuba. Serious foreign complications soon ar- 
rested public attention and completely overshadowed tariff 
legislation. President McKinley's first administration was 
marked by a war with Spain, the first foreign war the country 
had known for eighty- four 
years, except the brief strug- 
gle with Mexico in the late 
forties. The war with Spain 
grew out of that country's 
misgovernment of her colo- 
nies.^ The vast colonial em- 
pire which had made Spain 
one of the greatest nations of 
the earth in the sixteenth cen- 
tury — the age of discovery 
and exploration — had dwin- 
dled away until she held noth- 
ing in the New World except 
Cuba, Porto Rico, and a few 
adjacent islands of the West 
Indies. Her government of 
the colonies was cruelly un- 
just and they were almost constantly in a state of revolt. From 
1868 to 1878 a desperate and wasting struggle known as the 
" Ten Years War " had almost prostrated the island of Cuba. 
For seventeen years the fires of revolution smoldered, only to 
break out with renewed violence in 1895. The insurrection be- 
gan on the eastern end of the island and within a year it had 
spread until all Cuba was in rebellion. Notwithstanding the fact 
that the United States had maintained a position of neutrality, 
and that President Cleveland had issued a proclamation warn- 

1 For many years the United States had realized the importance of 
Cuba. From time to time filibustering expeditions had been fitted out 
at New Orleans or some other convenient port for the purpose of taking 
a part in Cuban affairs. While Franklin Pierce was President a decided 
move was made to annex Cuba, but the country was soon engrossed in 
the events leading up to the War Between the States, and the Cuban enter- 
prise was abandoned. 




WILLIAM MCKINLEY 



438 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

ing all persons against unlawfully making war on the Spanish 
forces in Cuba, filibustering expeditions with arms and men 
were secretly sent to Cuban insurgents by a " Junta " or coun- 
cil of wealthy Cubans in the United States. 

Weyler's Concentration Policy. In February, 1896, Spain 
sent General W'eyler (Wi'ler) as governor-general of Cuba 
to crush the insurrection. But the rebel chiefs, Gomez 
(go^mas) and Garcia (gar-the'a), maintained a deadly and 
cruel warfare which laid waste the sugar plantations and devas- 
tated the whole island. General Weyler determined to starve 
the rebels into submission. At the point of the bayonet he 
forced the inhabitants of the island into towns and cities where 
they could be overawed by the soldiery. The Spanish govern- 
ment was unable to supply them w^ith sufficient food or prop- 
erly to shelter them and many died of fever and starvation. 
In the province of Havana alone over one hundred thousand 
were thus concentrated within the Spanish lines and fifty-two 
thousand of them died. Homes were given to the flames, 
crops were destroyed, and everything that might support the 
insurrection was swept away. In this wholesale concentration 
and destruction many Americans within the island suffered.^ 
When General Fitzhugh Lee,- the United States Consul to the 
island, reported the conditions that prevailed there, the desola- 
tion and distress, American sympathy and indignation were 
aroused. Our citizens generally had a kindred feeling for any 
people struggling for independence. The position of Cuba 
made her of great commercial advantage to us and the whole- 
sale destruction of property there was a great loss to the 
Americans. 

In 1897 President McKinley sent a special commission to 

1 There was an extensive trade between Cuba and the United States, 
and the Americans had large sums invested on the island. General Weyler 
destroyed the property of the Americans as well as that of the Cuban in- 
surgents and many Americans were imprisoned. 

- General Fitzhugh Lee, a nephew of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate 
chieftain, was born in Virginia. He served as a cavalry officer in the 
War Between the States and acquitted himself with great distinction. 
From 1886 to 1890 he was governor of Virginia. After the Spanish 
war closed, he served as military governor of Havana. He died in 1905. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 439 



investigate affairs in Cuba, and Congress appropriated fifty 
thousand dollars as a relief fund for the Americans on the 
island. The government also warned Spain that if the 
wretched conditions did not improve this country would be 
forced to intervene for the protection of its own interests and 
for the sake of suffering humanity. General Weyler was re- 
called, and General Blanco, the new governor-general, tried 
to overcome the Cubans by less cruel means and win them 
back to Spain, but this concession came too late ; nothing short 
of independence would now satisfy the long-suffering Cubans. 

Sinking of the Maine. Blanco's policy brought no im- 
provement in Cuba. There was rioting in Havana and the 
insurgents kept up their struggle in other parts of the island. 
In February, 1898, a startling event occurred which shocked 
the whole country and precipitated the Spanish-American War. 
It was the destruction 
of the United States 
battleship Maine. 
The vessel had been 
sent to Cuba as a 
matter of precaution 
for the protection of 
Americans there, and 
for several weeks 
had been anchored 
in Havana harbor. 
About ten o'clock on 
the night of Febru- 
ary 15, an explosion 
sion destroyed the ship and killed two hundred and sixty-five of 
her officers and crew. Brief dispatches were sent to Washing- 
ton by General Lee and Captain Sigsbee, commander of the ill- 
fated vessel, announcing the terrible disaster and urging the 
American people to suspend judgment until the matter could be 
investigated. 

President McKinley at once appointed a naval court of 




Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

THE MAINE AS IT APPEARED WHEN RAISED FROM 
THE SEA IN I9I2 



440 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



inquiry, and this body, aided by a strong corps of expert divers 
and wreckers, reported, after four weeks, that the Maine was 
blown up by the explosion of a submarine mine. The Span- 
iards claimed that the destruction of the vessel was due to an 
explosion of one of her magazines. It has been settled that 
the explosion was from a mine, but it has never been ascer- 
tained who was responsible for the mine.^ In the United 
States feeling was high and the desire for war was not con- 
fined to any section, although it was stronger in the South 
and West than in New England. " Down with Spain " — 
" Remember the Maine! " became the popular cry. 

War Declared, April, 1898. The horrible conditions in 
Cuba, lasting for three years, and the destruction of our battle- 
ship led President McKinley, on April 11, 1898, to state in 
I a message to Congress, that, " In 

the name of humanity, in the name 
of civilization, in behalf of en- 
dangered American interests which 
give us the right and duty to speak 
and act, the war in Cuba must 
stop." Congress passed joint res- 
olutions, declaring: first, that the 
people of Cuba, " are and of a 
right ought to be free and inde- 
pendent " ; second, that Spain 
should withdraw her troops and 
" at once relinquish her authority 
and government," over the island; 
third, that the United States had no 
intention of taking possession of 
Cuba and would restore the island 
to the Cubans as soon as peace 
and good order were restored. The recognition of Cuban 
independence was equivalent to a .declaration of war, and on 

1 In 191 1 the wreck of the Maine was raised, and an investigation 
indicated that the vessel had been exploded from without. 




REAR ADMIR.A.L WILLIAM 
SAMPSON 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 441 



April 25 war was formally declared between the United 
States and Spain. The President issued calls for two hundred 
thousand volunteers. 

Preparations for War. As the Cuban situation had grown 
more and more threatening the United States proceeded to 
make ready for war. Congress had already appropriated Hfty 
million dollars for the national defense; coast fortifications 
were strengthened and the principal harbors were mined. The 
troops, both regulars and volunteers, were assembled at Chicka- 
mauga, Tampa, and other places where they could be easily 
transported to Cuba. The navy was supplemented with sev- 
eral merchant ves- 
sels and pleasure- 
craft which were 
refitted for naval 
warfare.^ After the 
destruction of the 
Maine our ships in 
European and South 
Atlantic waters were 
ordered to Key 
West, where the 
main fleet of our 
navy was stationed 
under Rear-admiral 
William T. Sampson, 
who was placed in 
command of the en- 
tire naval force in the North Atlantic. This fleet was to block- 
ade the coast of Cuba. The " Flying Squadron," under Com- 
modore W. S. Schley, assembled at Hampton Roads- to await 
the appearance of the Spanish fleet in the West Indies. The 
Oregon, a first-class battleship, was on the coast of Washing- 

1 Special interest was felt in the navy during the war. Through the 
efforts of Theodore Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the men 
had been engaged in target practice for months. The accuracy of the 
gunners contributed a large part toward our success. 




Copyright Underwood & Underwood 

BATTLESHIP OREGON 



•/ 



442 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




COMMODORE W. S. SCHLEY 



ton, and she was ordered on a long record-breaking voyage 
around Cape Horn which was to make her name and that of 

her captain, Charles E. Clark, fa- 
mous in naval history. Meantime 
it was known that on April 29 a 
division of the Spanish fleet, under 
Admiral Cervera (ther-va'ra), had 
left the Cape Verde Islands. War 
excitement now -reached a high pitch, 
and the appearance of the Span- 
ish ships in American waters was 
eagerly expected. 

Dewey's Victory at Manila. 
While the Spanish ships were on 
their way across the Atlantic a great 
battle was fought and won in the Pa- 
cific. The American squadron in 
Asiatic waters was under the command of Commodore George 
Dewey, and at the outbreak of the war was anchored off Hong 
Kong.^ As soon as war was declared Dewey was ordered to 
seek the Spanish fleet and capture or destroy it. He immedi- 
ately steamed tow^ard the Philippine Islands which were in pos- 
session of Spain, another relic of her colonial greatness.^ Here 
Dewey thought the Spanish fleet might be lurking. On 
the night of April 30, the American fleet, with the flagship 
Olympia leading, daringly slipped into Manila Bay, despite the 
bristling Spanish cannon that guarded its entrance and the 
mines within the harbor. At daybreak, on May i, the Ameri- 
can fleet was in sight of Manila and discovered the Spanish fleet 
Iving to the west protected by the guns of Cavite (kav'-i-ta), 

1 George Dewey was born in Vermont, in 1837. He served under Ad- 
miral Farragut in the War Between the States. In i8g6 he was advanced 
to the rank of Commodore, and in iSgS he was appointed to the command 
of the Asiatic Squadron. Upon his return to America after the war, he 
was enthusiastically received by the American people. In 1899 he was 
made admiral, the. third man in our naval service to hold such rank. 

- The Philippines were discovered and named by Magellan in his great 
voyage around the world in 1519-22. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 443 



a town on the bay. The Spanish fleet consisted of ten inferior 
vessels commanded by Achniral Montojo (Mon-to-ho). 
Dewey had nine vessels but they were far better than those of 
the Spanish. 'Hk' 
Spaniards, however, 
had the protection of 
their shore batteries. 
The battle began 
at five o'clock in the 
morning and the 
Americans handled 
their gnns accurately 
and rapidly. The 
action was short and 
terrific. The Amer- 
ican fleet swung past 
the enemy five times, 
pouring broadsides 
into the Spanish 
ships. So over- 
whelming was the 
fire that by one 
o'clock Montojo's 
flagship, the Rcina 

Christina, and most of his other ships were in flames. Three 
hundred and eighty-one Spaniards were killed and many 
more wounded. Not an American vessel was seriously 
injured ; not a man was killed, and only seven were 
wounded. The defenses of Cavite surrendered. When the 
news of this victory reached Washington Americans were 
filled with great joy. Dewey was raised to the rank of 
admiral, and Congress voted him the thanks of the nation. 
Dewey could not take the town of Manila because he had 
no soldiers to hold it. Troops were sent from San Fran- 
cisco, under Major-general Wesley Merritt, to reenforce 




Copyright Umt 



STREET SCENE IN MANILA 



444 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



Dewey, but two months elapsed before they reached the Phil- 
ippines. 

Blockade of Cervera. Soon attention was diverted from 
Dewey and his achievement and concentrated on events as 
thrilling nearer home. The first thing was to locate the Span- 
ish fleet under Admiral Cervera, which, at the outbreak of 
hostilities, had started westward from the Cape Verde Islands. 
Admiral Sampson ^ brought his squadron from Key West to 

protect the coasts of 
Cuba, and Commodore 
Schley ^ was ordered to 
move with his Flying 
Squadron into West 
India waters. While 




JOO 200 300 






4- 

IS. ^ 



^ "^ ^ 3 r% >i/ s'k^ v.°-" 



MOVEMENT OF SHIPS AROUND THE ISLANDS 



our fleets were watching 
and waiting, Cervera 
slipped into the port of 
Santiago on the south- 
east coast of Cuba, a 
well-protected harbor. As soon as he was located, Samp- 
son and Schley, whose fleets had been joined by the Ore- 
gon,^ after her wonderful voyage of fourteen thousand 
miles around South America, closed in on him and " bottled 
him up " in Santiago harbor. There was danger, however, 

1 William T. Sampson was born in New York, in 1840; was graduated 
at the Naval Academy in 1861, and served in the Union navy in the War 
Between the States. He was superintendent of the Naval Academy from 
1886 to 1890. and was president of the investigation committee to ascertain 
the cause of the destruction of the Maine. At the beginning of the war 
in 1898 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral. He died in 1902. 

2 Winfield Scott Schley was born in Maryland, in 1839. He was grad- 
uated at Annapolis, and later served as instructor there. He served in 
the Union navy during the War Between the States, attaining the rank of 
lieutenant. In 1884 he was in command of the third expedition sent by 
the United States to the relief of A. W. Greely, the Arctic explorer. 
He was promoted to the rank of commodore in February, 1898, and, 
after the war, he was made rear-admiral. He died in 191 1. 

3 The Oregon left San Francisco in March, and on May 26 she reached 
Key West, Florida. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 445 



that Cervera might, on some dark night, succeed in sHpping 
out. To prevent this a daring plan was laid to sink the 
collier Mcrriuiac directly across the entrance to the harbor. 
This plan was executed by Richmond Pearson Hobson,^ a 
brave young lieutenant, and seven heroic companions. Early 
on the morning of June 3 the Merrimac and her little crew 
started in. Soon the Americans were discovered and the Span- 
iards opened up a terrific fire, but Hobson and his men sped 
on without wavering. Unfortunately, a shot carried away 
the rudder of the little collier and it was impossible to sink 
her in the spot selected. She was sunk a little to one side 
and thus only partly obstructed the channel. Hobson and 
his men were picked 
up by the Spaniards 
and held prisoners 
at ]\Iorro Castle ; 
later they were 
exchanged. The 
blockade of Cer- 
vera's fleet lasted a 
month. 

On to Santiago. 
As soon as the 
Spanish fleet was 
, sliut up in tlie har- 
bor at Santiago it 
was decided to send 

an army to Cuba to cooperate with the navy in capturing 
Cervera's fleet and the town. Thus far the war had been 
confined to the navy. The regular army and the two hundred 
thousand volunteers who had responded to President McKin- 
ley's calls, were in camp at Tam^ja, Florida, and other conven- 

1 Richmond Pearson Hobson was born in Alabama, in 1870. He was 
graduated from the Naval Academy at the age of nineteen. His deed in 
sinking the Merrimac was one of superb daring, but it is worthy of note 
that practically all the men of the American fleet volunteered to perform 
the dangerous task. 




Ccpyright Underwood & Underwood 

SANTIAGO HARBOR — CUBA 



44^ STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

ient points. Now General Nelson A. Miles ^ the commanding 
officer, dispatched General William R. Shafter ^ with a force of 
about fifteen thousand men to Cuba. Conspicuous among 
these troops was a volunteer regiment of cavalry popularly 
known as Roosevelt's " Rough Riders " ^ under the command 
of Colonel Leonard Wood and Lieutenant-colonel Theodore 
Roosevelt. The troops landed at Daiquiri (di-ke're), about 
seventeen miles south of Santiago, on June 22, and, together 
with the Cuban insurgents under General Garcia, they began 
their march upon Santiago.^ 

An advance guard of regulars under Generals Lawton and 
Joseph Wheeler,^ with the Rough Riders, moved rapidly 
through the tropical forest and met the enemy, on June 24, 
at Las Guasimas.' Here the dense undergrowth made it im- 
possible to see the enemy even a few yards away, but the 
Americans gained a signal victory, and in a series of desperate 

1 Nelson A. Miles, the commanding officer of our army during the war 
with Spain, was born in Massachusetts. During the War Between the 
States he became a major of volunteers, and after the war he entered 
the regular service. He conducted seven important campaigns against the 
Indians. In 1900 he was made lieutenant-general. 

- William R. Shafter was born in Michigan, in 1835. He served in the 
Union army in the war between the states from 1861 to 1865. At the out- 
break of the Spanish War he was stationed at Tampa, Florida. 

^ This regiment was organized through the energetic efforts of Theodore 
Roosevelt, who resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy 
to become its lieutenant-colonel. Dr. Leonard Wood, an army surgeon, 
was made colonel. The " Rough Riders " were enlisted and equipped in 
fifty days. The regiment was recruited from cowboys, hunters, and ranch- 
men of the West and Southwest, and in its ranks had more than one 
hundred and sixty full-blooded Indians, together with graduates of many 
of our best colleges. General Wood later became the ranking officer in 
the American army. 

■* At the beginning of the war, the Cuban insurgents had received sup- 
plies from the Americans, and the two forces had acted together at 
Guantanamo (guan-ta'nii-mp), the first engagement of the war. Later 
joint action became difficult, and the insurgents under Garcia acted inde- 
pendently. 

^ General Joseph Wheeler, known as " Fighting Joe," was born in 
Georgia, in 1836. He was a Confederate veteran and distinguished him- 
self as a cavalry leader. After the war he became a lawyer and a cotton 
planter, and served Alabama, his adopted state, for many years in the 
lower house of Congress. He rendered distinguished service in the Span- 
ish War. He died in 1906. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 447 




LINE OF MARCH TO SANTIAGO 



rushes drove the enemy before them, and captured the Span- 
ish position. The Americans had to face unusual difficul- 
ties ; the roads were rough, hardly more than bridle paths, and 
often the troops had to march in columns of two. The 
climate was terribly hard on the American soldiers; the in- 
tense heat and the heavy rains threatened the men with dis- 
ease, and to add to their 
troubles they had poor food, 
improper clothing, and bad 
camp accommodations. 
Some of the soldiers were in 
*actual want. 

On June 30 General Shaf- 
ter decided to advance, with- 
out delay, on to Santiago. 
General Lawton's brigade and the dismounted cavalry, under 
General Joseph Wheeler, on July 2 attacked El Caney, a 
fortified town near Santiago. Here the Spaniards, although 
they had fewer than a thousand men to our three thousand five 
hundred, defended their position with stubborn bravery, and 
held the Americans in check until late in the afternoon. 

Finally the Spanish 
works were carried 
by storm and several 
hundred Spaniards 
were taken pris- 
oners. On the same 
day an assault was 
made on San Juan 
Hill, and the Rough 
Riders, commanded 
by Colonel Roosevelt, 
who had succeeded to the command upon the promotion of Col- 
onel Wood, distinguished themselves by their pluck and daring 
in the mad charge up the hill. The Spaniards used smokeless 
powder which made it hard to locate them, while the black 




C.pyrigllt Ulidcnv.™,.! it Uad.iWuud 

SAN JUAN, SEEN FROM THE HARBOR 



448 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

powder which our men used easily indicated their position. 

Other charges also were made on July 2, and the combined 
engagements are known as the battle of Santiago. It was 
the most important land battle of the war. About six thou- 
sand men in all were engaged. We lost two hundred and 
forty-one killed and about fourteen hundred wounded. Many 
of the suffering and wounded lay for hours in the brush be- 
fore relief could be furnished. The Spanish loss was even 
greater. 

Destruction of Cervera's Fleet, July 3, 1898. In the mean- 
time Sampson and Schley were standing guard at the entrance 
to the harbor. When the Americans advanced upon Santiago 
from the land side the Spanish ships determined to make 
a wild dash for liberty, and Cervera, with skill and bravery, 
tried to lead his fleet out of the harbor. About half past 
nine on the morning of July 3 a thin column of smoke was 
seen far up the bay, but the Americans were in complete readi- 
ness and were eager to pounce upon the enemy. Admiral 
Sampson was absent at the moment, conferring with General 
Shafter, and Commodore Schley was the ranking officer.^ 
Soon there was a wild running fight. As at Manila, the supe- 
rior marksmanship of the Americans told with deadly effect and 
in a few hours the Spanish fleet of six war vessels was either 
sunk or captured. About six hundred Spaniards were killed 
or drowned, and over thirteen hundred were taken prisoners, 
among them their brave admiral, Cervera.^ The American 
vessels were practically uninjured. But one man was killed- 
on Schley's flagship, the Brooklyn, and one wounded. 

Two weeks after this battle General Toral, in command of 
the Spanish forces at Santiago, numbering about twenty-two 

^ Between the friends of Sampson and those of Schley there was a 
bitter controversy over this battle. The friends of the latter claimed that 
Schley deserved the credit and glory of the victory on account of Sampson's 
absence. Admiral Sampson arrived after the heavy fighting was over. 

2 The Americans did heroic work in rescuing the Spaniards from their 
burning and sinking ships. Even while the battle was on the men were 
restrained from shouting over their victory by the manly words of Captain 
Jack Phillip of the battleship Texas, who said : " Don't cheer, boys, the 
poor devils are dying." 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 449 

thousand, surrendered to General Shafter, and practically the 
entire island of Cuba passed into the hands of the United 
States. The Spanish troops were sent back to Spain. The 
American soldiers were suffering greatly from fever and were 
removed.^ 

Conquest of Porto Rico; Surrender of Manila, August 13, 
1898. After the surrender of Santiago, General Miles, with 
about seventeen thousand troops, mostly volunteers, invaded 
Porto Rico, a fertile island some five hundred miles south- 
east of Cuba. General Miles landed at Ponce, and took pos- 
session of the town and the railroad leading to San Juan, the 
capital of the island. San Juan was taken and the whole 
southern and eastern portions of the island conquered. All 
hostilities were suspended by the news that on August 12 a 
peace protocol was signed between the United States and Spain. 
The news, however, did not reach the Far East for several 
days, and the last engagement of the war was in the Philip- 
pines. 

The fifteen thousand troops sent from San Francisco, un- 
der General Wesley Merritt, reached Manila the last of June. 
On August 13 the city was taken by the combined attack of 
the army and navy, and thirteen thousand Spanish soldiers 
were taken prisoners. With the fall of Manila Spanish au- 
thority in the Philippines practically ceased. 

Peace of Paris. The war was over. Spain sued for peace, 
and on August 12 a protocol or preliminary treaty was signed 
at Washington, the French ambassador acting in behalf of 
Spain. Both nations appointed commissioners to meet at 
Paris, France, October i, to arrange the final terms of peace. 

1 The suffering of the troops in Cuba and those at home during this 
war with Spain led to serious criticism of the War Department. There 
was improper food and clothing, and typhoid fever was prevalent in the 
camps. The suffering of the soldiers, due in large measure to eating 
canned meats improperly preserved, aroused public sentiment and ulti- 
mately contributed to the passage of the pure food laws which forbid 
the use of certain chemicals in prepared foods. Dr. Wiley of the Bureau 
of Chemistry, a branch of the Department of Agriculture, rendered effi- 
cient service in the enforcement of this law. 



450 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

On December lo, 1898, the following terms were agreed upon : 
first, Spain was to renounce all claim upon Cuba; second, 
Porto Rico and all other islands of the West Indies under 
Spanish dominion, likewise the island of Guam in the La- 
drones, were to be ceded to the United States; third, Spain 
ceded the Philippines to the United States, we agreeing to 
pay in exchange the sum of twenty million dollars within 
three months and for ten years to admit Spanish ships 
and goods free to the ports of the Philippines. The treaty, 
when sent to the United States Senate for ratification, met 
with much opposition on account of the clause dealing with 
the Philippines. Many opposed annexation, and believed that 
we should turn the islands over to the Filipinos themselves. 
Gradually the view prevailed that holding the Philippines was 
an obligation in order to keep them from falling into misrule 
even greater than that of Spain. Another phase of the ques- 
tion was that these new possessions would be of advantage 
in our trade with China and other parts of the Far East. The 
treaty was finally ratified, February 6, 1899. 

Other Results of the War. But there were other results 
of the war besides our gain in territory and Spain's loss of 
" the last memory of a glorious past." The war cost the 
United States about three hundred million dollars in money. 
A War Revenue Act was passed increasing certain internal 
revenue taxes and imposing a stamp tax on special articles. 
But the country was prosperous and during the short time 
these taxes were in force they were not burdensome. Great 
Britain had shown her sympathy for us in several ways 
during the war, and at its close there was a strong feel- 
ing of friendship between the two nations, the fair young 
land of the West and the mighty mistress of the main.^ Still 
another result of the war was the closer and deeper sympathy 
between the North and South and the realization of the 
oneness of this great nation of ours. Not only had we 
developed in a spirit of unity and national consciousness, but 

1 See Alfred Austin's poem, Britain's Tribute to the Americans. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 451 

we had also risen in the esteem of the great nations of the 
world. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the United 
States was a feeble third-rate power; at the dawn of the twen- 
tieth it is recognized as a world-power of the first impor- 
tance and the guardian of democracy and liberty. 

Our New Possessions. The colonial possessions of the 
United States in 1898 were not only those which we received 
from Spain but the Hawaiian Islands as well. These islands 
were annexed in 1898 by a joint resolution of the two 
houses of Congress, and put under territorial government. 
Of our Spanish acquisitions, Guam was small and important 
mainly as a coaling station. Porto Rico was at first put under 
military government, but in April, 1900, a territorial govern- 
ment was established ; the President appoints a governor and 
council for the island, and the people select their own legis- 
lature, and send a delegate to Congress; free trade is es- 
tablished with the United States. In August, 1899, a ter- 
rible hurricane swept over the island, destroying fruit and 
coffee plantations and other property to the value of twenty- 
two million dollars. The people of the United States gener- 
ously aided the destitute islanders. Since their change of 
government the Porto Ricans have greatly prospered, having 
made progress in education, in domestic products, and in 
commerce. 

Philippine Insurrection. The Philippine archipelago, an- 
other of our acquisitions at the close of the Spanish- American 
War, contains three thousand one hundred and forty-one is- 
lands, only about three hundred and forty-two of which are 
inhabited. Luzon, the largest in the group, is about the size 
of Tennessee. The soil is fertile and the chief products are 
sugar, manila hemp, tobacco, coffee, and indigo. At the close 
of the war the islands were under military control. General 
Otis and Admiral Dewey being in command. But the native 
Filipinos who, under their brave young leader Emilio Agui- 
naldo (a-ge-nal'do), had rebelled against Spanish rule, now 
resisted the terms of peace, saying that they were fighting 



452 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



for their independence and not for a change of masters. So 
determined was their resistance that President McKinley had 
to send ten thonsand additional troops to aid in the subjuga- 
tion of the islands. The natives, driven from their position 

near Manila, took to guer- 




rilla warfare, and for two 
years a ferocious and cruel 
struggle was maintained. 
There were hundreds of 
petty engagements and the 
Americans succeeded in 
gradually pushing their way 
into remote parts of the 
island. At length in March, 
1 90 1, Aguinaldo was cap- 
tured by a band of soldiers 
under General Frederick 
Funston and took the oath 
of allegiance to the United 
States. Soon thousands of 
his followers did likewise 
and the insurrection was at 
an end.^ J^idge William H. 
Taft was made governor of 
the islands, and during his 
two years and a half of service did much to restore order 
and contentment among the Filipinos. Schools have been es- 
tablished and hundreds of American teachers have gone to the 
islands. 

The " Open Door " ; the " Boxer " Uprising. Our occu- 
pation of the Philippines and our rapidly increasing commerce 
have given the United States a position of prominence in the 
affairs of the Far East. Some of the European nations, look- 
ing with covetous eyes upon China, demanded for their own 

1 General Lawton who had distinguished himself in the fights in Cuba, 
was killed at the battle of San Mateo, in 1899, fighting against the Filipinos. 



s^ SEA 

\ " Zamboanga^ 

\ .r .9 

X . ■• . ^'■■SULU 
BRITISH"^ X.. N 
NUKIH 2Py:\ f 'SLANDS 

BORXEOu /^^*^^ " CELEBES SEA 



PHILLIPPINE ISLANDS 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 453 

enrichment certain portions of Chinese territory and certain 
exckisive trading rights and privileges. These demands that 
nation was too weak to refuse. The United States insisted 
that the partition of China be stopped and also insisted on the 
" Open Door," that is, that the great powers guarantee to all 
nations equal trading rights in China. 

The selfish scramble for territory on the part of the Euro- 
pean nations aroused in the Chinese a bitter feeling toward 
foreigners which culminated in a serious outbreak. In 1900 
a powerful secret society, the " Boxers," which was organized 
seemingly for the practice of athletics, began a determined 
war on foreigners. Armies of the Boxers, joined by the im- 
perial forces, spread terror throughout the country. Mission- 
aries and native Christians were murdered, likewise hosts of 
foreigners, among whom were many American citizens. The 
German minister in Peking was assassinated and other foreign 
ministers were shut up in the buildings of the British legation 
and besieged for weeks by a bloodthirsty horde. For a time 
all communications with the outside world were cut off, and 
the situation was critical in the extreme. Finally, in August, 
1900, an allied relief force made up of Americans, Europeans, 
and Japanese hurried to the relief of the foreign ministers in 
Peking. The Boxers were dispersed by this army and soon 
the uprising was at an end. The Chinese government agreed 
to the following terms: first, the payment of a large indem- 
nity for the property destroyed ; second, the leaders were to be 
punished; third, China gave assurance that in future such out- 
breaks would be prevented. 

Reelection of McKinley. The year 1900, marked by the 
horrible Boxer uprising, was a presidential election year. 
The main issue between the Democrats and the Republicans was 
the question of the free coinage of silver, and each party took 
the same stand as in 1896. Another issue was imperialism, or 
the disposal of the Philippines. The Republicans had com- 
mitted themselves in favor of retaining them; the Democrats 
urged that they be made independent, with a promise on our 



454 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 




part to protect them against foreign powers. The Republi- 
cans renominated McKinley for the Presidency, while for the 

Vice-presidency they chose 
Theodore Roosevelt, then 
governor of New York, who 
had won fame as colonel of 
the " Rough Riders " during 
the Spanish-American War.^ 
The Democrats again chose 
their popular leader, William 
Jennings Bryan, for the first 
place on their ticket; former 
Vice-president, Adlai E. Stev- 
enson, was named for second 
place. The silver Republi- 
cans and one faction of the 
Populists supported Bryan. 
The Republican campaign cry 
was " the full dinner-pail " as 
an evidence of prosperity under McKinley's administration. 
The Republicans were victorious. 

Pan-American Exposition; Assassination of McKinley. 
McKinley was inaugurated for the second time March 4, 190 1, 
and on May i of that year a great Pan-American Exposition 
was opened at Buffalo.^ This exposition was for the purpose 
of exhibiting the resources of the American republics. The 
main feature of the whole exposition was the electrical dis- 
play, which made the most glorious night-scene the world has 
ever beheld. 

1 Vice-president Hobart had died in 1899. 

- Several Pan-American congresses have been held. The first was in 
1826, at Panama, but the delegates of the United States did not arrive 
in time for the proceedings. In 1889 a second Pan-American congress 
was held at Washington. In 1901 a third was held in Mexico City. Still 
another met at Rio Janeiro in igo6. These congresses were simply ad- 
visory bodies whose purpose was to promote friendly feelings among the 
American republics. A stately building has been erected in Washington, 
largely through the generosity of Andrew Carnegie, for an International 
Bureau of American Republics. 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 455 

But the gay throng of sightseers at Buffalo were turned to 
mourners, when, on September 6, President McKinley was 
shot by an assassin. In the afternoon, the President was hold- 
ing a reception in the Temple of Music, and in the long line 
of citizens with whom he was shaking hands there was one 
who had his hand covered with a handkerchief as if it were 
wounded. This was merely the means of concealing a pistol 
and when the anarchist, Leon Czolgosz (shorgosh), by name, 
came up to the President he shot him twice. For eight days 
the nation was in suspense, hoping against hope that McKin- 
ley 's life would be spared. On September 14, he died; the 
third of our Presidents within forty years to be shot down by 
assassins. Czolgosz was tried for murder and executed. 
Theodore Roosevelt, the Vice-president, took the oath of office 
at Buffalo a few hours after McKinley 's death. ^ 

Protests Against Foreigners. The death of President 
McKinley at the hands of a Polish anarchist caused a renewal 
of the agitation against anarchism and led to the passage of a 
law by Congress excluding anarchists from the persons permit- 
ted to immigrate into the United States. The question of im- 
migration in all its phases has grown to serious proportions. 
In 1882 was passed the first act excluding the Chinese, and in 
1902 was passed the last, which made all prepeding acts perpet- 
ual in duration and prohibited the immigration of Chinese la- 
borers from the island territories to the mainland. In 1904 a 
movement began among labor organizations on the Pacific 
Coast to exclude Japanese immigrants also, because they were 
regarded as a menace to the interests of the people in that 
section, and the California state legislature urged that the 

1 Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth President of the United States, 
was born in New York City, in 1858. He was graduated from Harvard 
in 1880, and, after holding various minor political offices in New York, 
he moved, in 1884, to North Dakota where he lived the life of a ranchman. 
When Benjamin Harrison was President, Roosevelt was on the civil serv- 
ice commission, and did a great deal toward the extension of the merit 
system. His service during the Spanish- American War made him im- 
mensely popular. He was elected governor of New York on the Republi- 
can ticket, and in 1900 he was elected Vice-president. 



456 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

United States government limit the further immigration of 
Japanese laborers. The city of San Francisco adopted a sys- 
tem by which the Japanese and the Americans were segregated 
in the public schools. This was a blow to Japanese pride and 
immediately the government of Japan protested. Though fall- 
ing upon deaf ears in California, the protest received instant 
attention in Washington. California stood upon her rights as 
a state to regulate her schools in her own way; but finally, in 
a spirit of compromise, the offending regulation was repealed.^ 

The Republic of Cuba. Early in President Roosevelt's ad- 
ministration we fulfilled our pledge concerning Cuba, made 
at the outbreak of the war, and turned the island over to the 
inhabitants. In January, 1899, the Spanish soldiers had evacu- 
ated the island and the United States then set up a military 
government, which lasted until 1902. Under the direction of 
Major-general Wood order was quickly restored and the prog- 
ress of Cuba during these years of military government was 
marvelous. An effective system of taxation was established, 
likewise a system of public schools. Cuban industries that 
had been paralyzed during the war, particularly sugar grow- 
ing, were once more put upon a profitable basis. The sanita- 
tion of the cities was a wonderful work for the health and 
prosperity of tlie people. For the first time in one hundred 
and forty years Havana was free from yellow fever.^ 

The Cubans framed a constitution, modeled after that of 
the United States, in which they agreed that no foreign power 

1 Another phase of the race question was shown in a riot which broke 
out in 1906 in Brownsville, Texas, between the colored soldiers stationed 
there and the citizens of the town. One man was killed and two wounded. 
An investigation of the affair showed that some of the soldiers were 
guilty, and that others were shielding them. The entire battalion was 
discharged by President Roosevelt. 

2 Epidemics of yellow fever had broken out from time to time in our 
port towns, and in 1878 it spread as far inland as Memphis. Nearly 
fifteen thousand people were taken off. Later by quarantining rigidly the 
disease was kept in check in the ports of the United States. The magnif- 
icent work done at Havana was largely due to Walter Reed, and other 
surgeons of the United States army, who established the fact that the 
disease is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. The United States gov- 
ernment spent ten million dollars for the sanitation of Cuba. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 457 

could acquire or control any of their territory, and that the 
United States would have the right to maintain, by force if 
necessary, the independence of Cuba. Tomas Estrada Palma 
was elected President, and on May 20, 1902, the United States 
withdrew their officials and the Republic of Cuba entered upon 
her independent career. In 1903 a reciprocity agreement was 
arranged by which the duties of the Dingley Tariff Act, which 
had been passed in 1897, were changed so as to permit a reduc- 
tion of twenty per cent on Cuban goods imported into the 
United States and Cuba permitted certain American goods to 
enter her ports at reduced rates. In 1906 again an insurrec- 
tion broke out in Cuba and the United States had to set up a 
provisional government once more. It lasted, however, for 
only a short time, and in 1909 Cuba was again restored to the 
Cubans. 

The Isthmian Canal. In Roosevelt's administration one of 
the greatest public works of recent years was launched — the 
building of the Panama Isthmian canal. For many years, ever 
since we gained our first territory on the Pacific, the United 
States had considered the building of a canal to connect the two 
oceans. In 1850 Great Britain and the United States formed 
an agreement knov.n as the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, to build 
and control a canal through Nicaragua; but neither nation 
had taken any steps toward the accomplishment of the plan. 
In 1880 a French company started work on a canal across 
the Isthmus of Panama, but in 1889 operations were sus- 
pended. For some time many people had come to realize that 
the commercial interests of our country would be benefited 
by a canal shortening the distance between the East and the 
West, and during the Spanish- American War the value of 
such a canal from the naval standpoint was keenly realized by 
the people while they waited those anxious weeks when the 
Oregon was making her voyage around the Horn. The canal 
now came to be regarded as a necessity and public sentiment 
demanded that it be constructed and controlled by the United 
States. 



458 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



In 1900 the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was abrogated, and a 
new treaty known as the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was signed 
in 1901, by which the United States was to have the sole 
power " to construct, control, and defend an isthmian canal 
for the benefit of the commerce of the world." Instead of 
cutting the canal through Nicaragua, the United States pur- 
chased from the French their works at Panama, for forty mil- 
lion dollars, and proposed to pay the United States of Colom- 
bia ten million for exclusive control of a strip of land across the 

isthmus for the 
building of a canal. 
Colombia refused to 
make a treaty grant- 
ing the necessary 
land, and this re- 
jection caused the 
people of Panama, a 
state within the 
United States of 
Colombia, to feel 
that their interests 
had been sacrificed, 
and to secede and set 
up the independent 
republic of Panama, November 3, 1903. On November 6, 
the new republic received official recognition from the United 
States, and on November 18 a new canal treaty was negoti- 
ated known as the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty. This treaty 
granted to the United States the exclusive control of a zone of 
land ten miles wide for the construction of a canal in return for 
the sum of ten million dollars, and an agreement to pay a yearly 
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars at the expiration 
of nine years. The canal was estimated to cost n6t over one 
hundred and thirty million dollars, though the final cost will be 
much more, and was to be finished by 1915.^^ It will be of in- 
1 The principal reason for the faikire of the French in their efforts to 




Copyright UmKuvuud i, UiiUtuvoud 

SECTION OF PANAMA CANAL ,igi2 




SUCCESSIVE ACQUISITION OF TEKKITOKY OF 
UNITED STATES 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 459 

estimable advantage to the commercial world. ^ The distance 
by sea from New York to San Francisco, now over thirteen 
tiiousand miles, will be reduced to a little over five thou- 
sand.^ 

The final success of the inter-oceanic canal project will be 




THE PANAMA CANAL AND THE CANAL ZONE 



in large measure due to General John T. Morgan, senator 
from Alabama, 1877- 1900. He was a vigorous and per- 
sistent advocate of the Nicaraguan route in preference to 

dig the Panama canal was their inabiHty to create proper health con- 
ditions in the Tropics. But the science of medicine has made great ad- 
vances since that day, and one of the first steps taken by the United 
States was an effort to drive out malarial and yellow fever from the 
canal zone. Dr. W. C. Gorgas, who had conducted the " clean up " cam- 
paign with such signal success in Havana, was placed in charge of the 
sanitary department on the isthmus, and by his tact and ability he has 
achieved one of the greatest successes in the history of medicine. Panama 
has a better health record than New York, Philadelphia, or Washington ; 
malarial fever has been practically exterminated; yellow fever is now 
unknown ; all sickness has been reduced to a minimum ; and the working 
power of the employees is kept at the highest point possible. When the 
canal is finished, our success will be due, in no small measure, to the 
efficiency of Dr. Gorgas and his assistants in the sanitary department. 

1 This canal will be of special benefit to Southern ports. 

2 In 1903 the Pacific cable from San Francisco to Hong Kong by way 
of Hawaii and Manila was completed, another link binding us to the 
nations of the Pacific. On July 4, 1903, President Roosevelt sent the 
first message, and in four minutes' time it had flashed around the world. 
Another invention was the Marconi wireless telegraph. On January 8, 
1903, President Roosevelt sent the first wireless message across the At- 
lantic. 



46o STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

the one across the Panama; but, though failing in his im- 
mediate object, he created pubhc sentiment which made possible 
the digging of a canal. 

Alaskan Boundary Fixed, 1903. In 1903, while we were 
engaged in our isthmian diplomacy, we settled our last bound- 
ary dispute with Great Britain. When Alaska was purchased 
from Russia in 1867 the boundary line between that region and 
Canada had never been fixed. The discovery of gold in 1897 
in the Klondike region on the upper tributaries of the Yukon 
caused a rush of miners into the country. The deposits were 
exceedingly rich, and despite the hardships of the climate 
and of the overland route, Alaska filled up with gold seekers 
and the experience of the " forty-niners " in California was 
repeated. The Canadians laid claim to a portion of the Alas- 
kan country which the Americans likewise claimed and for 
a time there was a deal of bitterness between the respective 
settlers. The question was submitted by the two countries 
to a board of arbitration, who in their decision of 1903, sus- 
tained the American claim. In June, 1900, Alaska was erected 
into a civil and judicial district by Act of Congress and its 
government has been much improved. 

A Decade of Expositions. The first ten years of the twen- 
tieth century was a decade of fairs and centennial expositions. 
In 1901 there was held at Charleston, South Carolina, what 
was known as the South Carolina and Interstate and West 
Indian Exposition, which revealed anew the progress of south- 
ern industry and art and the value of the West Indian trade. 

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held at St. Louis, 
in 1904, in commemoration of the centennial of the purchase 
of Louisiana from France and was the most important in- 
dustrial exhibit ever organized in America except the World's 
Columbian Fair at Chicago in 1893. The St. Louis Fair 
opened April 30, 1904, and closed December i. About sixty 
foreign countries and nearly every state and territory in the 
Union were represented in the exhibits. The architecture, 
sculpture, and landscape gardening were of a high order of 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 461 

excellence and the showing of the latest scientific discoveries 
was among the most interesting features of the exhibit. 

The next year an American Pacific Exposition and Oriental 
Fair was held at Portland, Oregon, in commemoration of the 
first exploration of the American continent from the Missis- 
sippi to the Pacific by Lewis and Clark. This exposition was 
particularly interesting in showing the wonderful natural re- 
sources of the Northwest. The Irrigation Building, which 




SCENE AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION AT ST. LOUIS 

showed by elaborate models something of the reclamation work 
of the United States government, and the Forestry Building, 
made of mighty logs of fir and cedar, were among the most at- 
tractive features of the fair. 

Two years later, in 1907, a tercentennial exposition was held 
at Norfolk, Virginia,, to celebrate the three. hundredth anni- 
versary of the first permanent English settlement in America. 
The chief feature of this exposition was the naval display; 
battle-ships of many nations were assembled in Hampton 
Roads, presenting a superb spectacle. 



462 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

In September, 1909, a celebration was held at New York, 
commemorating the tercentenary of Henry Hudson's discov- 
ery of the Hudson River and the centenary of Robert Fulton's 
invention of the steamboat, though the latter was belated by 
two years. The people of Holland joined in the celebration 
and sent over to New York an exact reproduction of Hud- 
son's little ship the Half-Moon. The Clermont, too, was re- 
produced. These two quaint vessels were in striking contrast 
with the huge warships and ocean-liners that lay in the har- 
bor. To make the scene even more dramatic airships rode 
high over all, encircling the Statue of Liberty and darting 
here and there above the city. 

Disasters. It was a decade of disasters as well.^ In 1900 
the city of Galveston was visited by a terrible hurricane. 
Winds and waves swept the island and the adjacent coasts and 
fully six thousand people lost their lives. From all parts of 
the country help was sent to the stricken city. The grade of 
the city has been raised and a sea-wall built to protect it from 
future inundation. - 

In 1904 the city of Baltimore was swept by a terrible fire 
which raged for thirty hours. Over twenty-six hundred build- 
ings in the heart of the city were laid in ashes. 

On April 18, 1906, the coastal region of middle California 
was shaken by a violent earthquake. Its most disastrous 
effect was due to the fires that were started in San 
Francisco and the destruction of the pipe system which sup- 
plied the city with water. More than three hundred mil- 
lion dollars' worth of property was destroyed and two hundred 

1 In 1889 Johnstown, a city of 30,000 inhabitants in Pennsylvania, seventy- 
eight miles east of Pittsburg, had been completely submerged as a result of 
the breaking of a dam. More than two thousand lives were lost and much 
property was destroyed. The town quickly recovered and is the center 
of an e.xtensive iron and steel industry. 

- In order to meet the emergency created by this disaster, Galveston se- 
cured a charter that abolished her city government as formerly constituted 
and placed her affairs in the hands of a commission of five citizens. 
Tlieir businesslike administration of the affairs of the city was so remark- 
ably successful that the " commission form " of government for cities has 
become popular in all parts of the country. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 463 



and fifty thousand people were rendered homeless. The burnt 
district covered three thousand four hundred acres. For days 
the food of the entire city was cooked over camp fires in 
the streets. 

Election of 1904. At "the time that the Louisiana Purchase 
Exposition was in progress, the country was interested in the 
Presidential election of that 
year. The Republicans nom- 
inated Theodore Roosevelt for 
the Presidency and Senator 
Charles W. Fairbanks of In- 
diana for the Vice-presidency. 
The Democrats chose Judge 
Alton B. Parker of New York 
for the first place and Henry 
G. Davis of West Virginia 
for the second. Other parties 
had their candidates in the 
field : Thomas E. Watson of 
Georgia represented the Popu- 
lists or People's Party ; Eugene 
V. Debs of Indiana repre- 
sented the Socialists, and Silas 
Swallow the Prohibitionists. 
The election turned on the 
questions of tariff reform and the trusts, the two great parties 
holding about the same positions as in 1900. The Republicans 
were again victorious. 

Peace of Portsmouth. Early in President Roosevelt's sec- 
ond administration he rendered a distinguished service to the 
cause of civilization in acting as mediator in a great struggle 
between Russia and Japan. Notwithstanding the agreement 
made with China after the Boxer uprising, Russia had 
not withdrawn her forces from Manchuria, a province of 
Northern China. This provoked the hostility of Japan, and 
in 1904 the two nations went to war. For a year and a half 




i-x 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



464 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Japan startled the world by her victories on land and on sea. 
At length President Roosevelt persuaded the Russian and Jap- 
anese governments to open negotiations for peace. The en- 
voys of the two nations met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
on August 23, 1905, and agreed upon the terms. 

Cruise of the Battle Fleet Around the World, 1907 to 1909. 
Since our war with Spain, the United States had paid much 
attention to strengthening both the army and the navy. Many 
new battle-ships were built and on December 16, 1907, our 
battle fleet started from Hampton Roads on a cruise around 
the world. The first part of the journey w-as a circuit of the 
American continents from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores 
of the United States. From San Francisco the journey was 
to Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, China, and Japan. 
The home voyage was through the Indian Ocean, the Suez 
Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Strait of Gibraltar. 
Everywhere the fleet was received with enthusiasm, it was a 
stately picture. There were sixteen large battle-ships in four 
divisions with the vessels two hundred and fifty yards apart. 
After having traversed about forty-five thousand miles of the 
sea the fleet returned to Hampton Roads on February 22, 
1909, one year, two months, and six days from the time it 
started. This was the first battle fleet to circumnavigate the 
globe. ^ 

Second Peace Conference, 1907. In spite of wars and the 
building of vast armaments and fleets, there has developed a 
strong sentiment toward peace among the nations of the earth. 
In 1899, at the suggestion of the Czar of Russia, the first 
Peace Conference was held at The Hague in Holland for the 
purpose of promoting peace and diminishing the great expense 
of maintaining navies and amiies.- There were twenty-seven 

1 The fleet was tinder the command of Rear-admiral Robley D. Evans 
until it reached San Francisco, where ill health forced him to relinquish 
the command to Rear-admiral Charles S. Sperry. 

- The United States pays out more than two-thirds of the national 
revenue in pensions, in interest on war debt, and in support of the army 
and navy. In the year 1910 the number on the pension list was nearly 
900,000, and the expenditure was over one hundred and fifty million dollars. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 465 

nations represented at the conference, the United States being 
prominent among the number. The conference agreed to sub- 
mit disputes wherever possible to an international arbitration 
court as a step toward bringing about universal peace. ^ Presi- 
dent Roosevelt proposed a second Peace Conference in Octo- 
ber, 1904. Delegates from forty-four nations assembled at 
The Hague in 1907 and their deliberations further aided the 
cause of peace.- 

Internal Affairs. From time to time our Presidents had 
extended civil service reform, and President Roosevelt made 
further additions to the offices to be filled under the merit 
system.^ 

A desperate strike, lasting for five months, occurred among 
the anthracite coal miners of Pennsylvania. President Roose- 
velt induced both sides to submit their differences to arbitra- 
tion and soon the strike was ended. 

The growth of our commerce and the importance of labor 
in this period of our history caused a new executive depart- 
ment to be created in 1903, the Department of Commerce and 
Labor. This increased the members of the President's cabinet 
to nine. 

There was growing among the people a decided sentiment 
in favor of the enforcement of the Sherman Anti-trust Law, 
passed in 1890. Combinations of railroads were brought to 
trial for violating this act, and several trusts have likewise 

1 This court held its first session in 1902, to hear the case of the United 
States versus Mexico in the matter of the "Pious Fund" of the Cali- 
fornians. While California was a province of Mexico, that country had 
given a certain sum for the support of the missions among the California 
Indians. This sum was the income from a fund known as the " Pious 
Fund," established for that purpose while Spain owned Mexico. When 
California was ceded to the United States, Mexico ceased to pay the 
income due to the California Missions. The United States took up this 
claim, and in 1902 referred it to the Hague Triliunal for arbitration. 
The decision required Mexico to pay over a million dollars, Mexican 
money, in past dues, and to pay in the future over forty thousand dollars 
annually. 

- A National Peace Congress in the United States assembled at New 
York in 1907. 

2 In 1910 there were 384,088 employees in the United States civil service. 



466 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



been prosecuted and ordered to dissolve, notably the 
Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company. 
In 1903 a more stringent act, known as the Elkins Law, was 
passed, and in 1906 another Interstate Commerce Act was 
passed more comprehensive than that of 1887/ 

A bill was passed raising the salary of the President to seven- 
ty-five thousand dollars a year and increasing the salaries of 
other Federal officials.- 

Conservation of Our Natural Resources. A question that 
was brought forcibly to the public mind by President Roose- 








THIS PICTURE, FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SAMT LAND, REVEALS WHAT CHANGE 
THE RECLAMATION SERVICE IS MAKING IN THE DESERT 



velt was the conservation of our natural resources, that is, 
the preservation of the forests, water supply, soil, fuel, and 
minerals. As a people we have been extremely wasteful in 
the use of these endowments. The preservation of the forests 
is important not only from the standpoint of their use as 
building material and fuel, but also from the standpoint of 
their influence upon the flow of water. A separate Bureau 

^ Several of the states likewise passed laws against trusts, and for the 
regulation of railroads. 

- Taft was the first President to receive this increase of salary. A 
former bill had set other salaries as follows : Vice-president and Speaker 
of the House, $12,000; senators and representatives, $7,500. The President 
was voted an allowance for traveling expenses. Each senator and repre- 
sentative is allowed liberal mileage, $1,500 for a clerk, and certain office 
expenses also are paid. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 467 

of Forestry was created and made a part of the Department 
of Agriculture. Gifford Pinchot, for several years head of 
tliis bureau, did much effective work in the matter of conserva- 
tion. The Reclamation Service has also done valuable work. 
Streams have been diverted from their original channels and 
made to water and transform arid lands. Dams have been 
built and reservoirs constructed for storing up water so that the 
lands of the West may yield their increase. Proceeds from 
the sale of public lands in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colo- 
rado have been devoted to the Reclamation Service. In May, 
1908, the President called a conference of governors to meet 
at the White House to consider the question of conservation; 
governors were present from forty states besides many other 
leaders of both state and nation. 

Election of igo8. Another presidential year had rolled 
around, and the tariff and the trusts were still the main issues 
before the country. The Democrats again nominated William 
Jennings Bryan, with John Kern of Indiana for the Vice- 
presidency.^ The Republicans nominated William Howard 
Taft - of Ohio for the Presidency and James S. Sherman of 
New York for the Vice-presidency. The Populists and Social- 
ists put forth the same candidates for the presidency as in 
1904. The Prohibitionists nominated Eugene W. Chafin of 
Illinois, while a new party, known as the Independent Demo- 
crats, organized by William R. Hearst of New York, nomi- 

^ William Jennings Bryan was born in Illinois, in i860. He was grad- 
uated from Illinois College in 1881, and from Union College of Law i i 
Chicago, in 1883. In 1887 he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he 
practiced law. From i8gi to 1895 he was in Congress from Nebraska, 
and soon attracted attention as a public speaker and as advocate of free 
silver and tariff reform. He delivered an eloquent speech at the Demo- 
cratic National Convention in 1896, and this won for him the nomination 
for the Presidency. During the Spanish-American War he served as 
colonel of volunteers. 

- William Howard Taft was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857. He 
was graduated from Yale in 1878, and admitted to the bar two years later. 
He was at one time professor of law in the University of Cincinnati, and 
later served on the F'edcral bench. He was governor of the Philippines, 
which position he resigned to become Secretary of War under President 
Roosevelt. He was appointed provisional governor of Cuba in 1906 and 
served a short while. 



468 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



nated Thomas L. Hisgen, of Massachusetts.^ Taft received 
three hundred and twenty-six electoral votes to one hundred 
and fifty-seven for Bryan. 

Taft's Administration. As the tariff was one of the main 
issues in the election and the Republican party had pledged 

itself to tariff revision, Pres- 
ident Taft called a special 
session of Congress shortly 
after his inauguration. After 
months of heated discussions 
Congress passed the Payne- 
Aldrich Tariff bill, which be- 
came a law on August 5, 1909. 
This was a highly protective 
tariff and an evidence of its 
disfavor with the people was 
shown in the Democratic vic- 
tories in many of the states 
and congressional districts in 
the election of 1910. In 
fact, the second Congress 
of President Taft's adminis- 
tration contained a Demo- 
cratic House and a Senate 
that was Republican by only 
a small majority. A faction of the Republicans, known as 
Insurgent Republicans, are opposed to the high protective 
system and are particularly strong in the West. A bill passed 
both houses of Congress and was signed by the President in 
191 1 providing for reciprocity with Canada. The people of 
Canada, however, defeated the measure when it was submitted 
to them in a general election in September of the same year. 
The thirteenth census taken in 191 o showed a population of 
91,000,000 within the United States and over 100,000,000 in- 

1 In the campaign of 1908, eight political parties had candidates in the 
field. 




WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 469 



eluding the territories and dependencies. The Union of States 
was made complete from sea to sea in 191 1 by th3 admission 
of New Mexico and Arizona, as the forty-seventh and forty- 

These two states were parts of 



eighth States of the Union 



Chicag^^^^^^ 1 



<S) Center 0/ J'irpulation I I 
Ni/v Vork 



Pyfe N N S Y L V/A M 1 A / M^ 

Pittsljuigh ( Vnew*^ 

HarrisburgV piiii-jjU-iphi 




WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF THE CENTER OF POPULATION 



the Mexican cession which was acquired in 1848 at the close 
of the Mexican War. 

Schools and Libraries. In a new country the utilities are of 
paramount importance and Americans have more than met the 
responsibilities of their situation by producing the greatest 
inventions of the day. But there has been a great advance in 
general culture as well as a growth along material and com- 
mercial lines in the last quarter century. There has been a 
more widespread interest in education than ever before, and 
public schools have been multiplied throughout the country. 
These schools are being constantly strengthened and improved ; 
more subjects of study are introduced and better equipment 
is furnished. In the southern states separate public schools 
have been established for the negroes. Colleges and universi- 
ties have increased in number and in every state excellent 

1 Arizona embodied in her constitution the iniative, the referendum, and 
the recall, but she had to give up the recall before her constitution was 
accepted. Oklahoma, Oregon, and several other states embody the inia- 
tive and referendum in their constitutions. These experiments in direct 
popular government are being tried in many of our cities, and are live 
issues in American politics. 



470 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

agricultural and mechanical colleges are to be found. Many- 
state universities have entered upon a period of vigorous 
growth, and new universities, as Johns Hopkins, Tulane, Le- 
land Stanford, and the University of Chicago, have been 
founded. A great number of colleges have been established 
exclusively for women, and many of the older universities now 
open their doors to women students. Excellent technical 
schools, as well as schools of medicine and law, are found in 
every section of the country and they all display a rising 
consciousness of duty to nation, state, and citizen. Libraries 
are to be found in nearly every town, many of them being 
aided by gifts from Andrew Carnegie. The Metropolitan 
Museum in New York, and the Corcoran Art Gallery in Wash- 
ington are treasure houses of which any nation might be 
proud, and the Congressional Library ranks among the half 
dozen finest in the world. 

Literature. Improved methods of printing have greatly in- 
creased the number and cheapness of books. American news- 
papers and magazines are among the best and contribute a 
large part toward making the Americans the most wide awake 
and best educated people in the world. American writers in 
history, fiction, biography, and poetry are legion since the war 
period, and every section of the country has been depicted in 
song and in story. Henry Timrod and Sidney Lanier are 
among the sweet singers of the Southland. James Whitcomb 
Riley, the " Hoosier Poet," and Joaquin Miller, the " Poet 
of the Sierras," hail from the West; and there is a host of 
others. W. D. Howells is among the greatest of our novelists 
and critics, and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom 
Sawyer have made his delightful humor familiar to every 
schoolboy. Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus Stories are 
among the treasures of childhood. Thomas Nelson Page, one 
of our very best writers of negro dialect, is the author of Marse 
Chan and Meh Lady and a score or more other stories of 
southern life. Bret Harte has written vivid and humorous 
stories of the " forty-niners " in California and George W. 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 471 

Cable's stories of Creole days in Louisiana are full of freshness 
and charm. John Fiske, Woodrow Wilson, J. B. McMaster, 
and J. F. Ford are among the historians who have told with 
scholarly ability the story of our glorious past. 

Progress in Art. In the last quarter of the nineteenth cen- 
tury Americans as a people awakened to an interest in music, 
painting, sculpture, and civic beauty. Conservatories of music 
have been established and American musicians such as Theo- 
dore Thomas, the great orchestra director, Ethelbert Nevin, 
the composer, and many others have become well known to 
music lovers. In painting and sculpture America has produced 
some great men ; Whistler, Sargent, and Abbey take high rank 
as painters, while the work of such sculptors as Valentine, St. 
Gaudens, Moses Ezekiel, and Daniel French adorn many of 
our public buildings and parks. The American people are be- 
ginning to beautify their cities ; attractive parks, broad avenues, 
well-paved streets, and magnificent buildings are to be found 
where a few years ago all was plainness and unsightliness. 
The national capitol at Washington ranks among the finest 
buildings of the world. There are other magnificent 
buildings in Washington, and the straggling little village on the 
Potomac, where Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office in 
1 80 1, has grown to be one of the most beautiful of cities. In 
1902 the historic White House, an imposing residence of the 
colonial type, was repaired and beautified throughout, but not 
a single feature of the original building was destroyed. A new 
executive office building has been erected and the White House 
is reserved exclusively for the President and his family. In 
this city and throughout the whole country, even in small 
towns and villages, are monuments to the heroes who have 
made our great republic. 

" I love thine inland seas. 
Thy groves and giant trees, 

Thy rolling plains ; 
Thy rivers' mighty sweep. 
Thy mystic canons deep, 



472 STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 

Thy mountains wild and steep, 
All thy domains. 

" Thy silver eastern strands, 
Thy Golden Gate that stands 

Af ront the west ; 
Thy flowery Southland fair, 
Thy sweet and crystal air — 

land beyond compare, 

1 love thee best." 



THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

I. When had there first been ill feeling towards the United States on 
the part of Spain over Cuba? What had caused it? 2. What was the 
direct cause of the war with Spain? 3. What was the purpose of the 
United States in declaring war? 4. Did she abide by her intentions as 
expressed in the declaration? 5. How did the war teach us a military 
lesson? 6. How did it bring on the annexation of Hawaii? 7. What 
excuse did we have for not granting independence to the Filipinos? 
8. How many American soldiers died from wounds? How many from 
disease? 9. What were the provisions of the treaty of peace? 10. What 
has our government done with regard to Cuba? Why did we not do the 
same with Porto Rico? 11. What is the present status of the Panama 
Canal? 12. How has Wireless Telegraphy already been an untold blessing 
to humanity? 13. What good governmental result has come of the Gal- 
veston flood? 14. What is meant by the Initiative and the Referendum? 
In how many states is it in operation? 15. What is a trust? 16. Why 
was Pinchot removed as Chief Forester by Taft? 

SOURCE MATERIAL 

General References : Wilson, Division and Reunion and American 
People, V; Stanwood, The Presidency; Sparks, National Development; 
Dewey, National Problems; Latane, America as a World Power; Larned, 
History for Ready Reference ; Ford, National Problems; Stanwood, Amer- 
ican Tariff Controversies; Wheeler, The Santiago Campaign, Carl Schurz, 
Civil Service Reform; Lincoln Steffens, Shame of the Cities; Lodge, ]]'ar 
with Spain; Watterson, History of the War with Spain; Stedman, Poets 
of America; Beveridge, Our Opportunity in the Orient. 

Sources and Other Readings : Alderman, The Growing South; Grady, 



THE SPANISH WAR: SUBSEQUENT EVENTS 473 

The Democracy of the South; Fitzhugh Lee, The Flag of the Union For- 
ever; Venable, The Duties of the Educated Man to His Country; Hall 
Chester, The Panama Canal; Ford, Honorable Peter Stirling; Hart, Source 
Readers; Riis, Hoiv the Other Half Lives and Children of the Poor; 
Craddock, Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains; Owen Wister, The 
Virginian; Otis, Boys of 'gS; Miller, Cttba Libre; Roosevelt, Address to 
the Rough Riders; H. H. Jackson, Raviona; Dunne, Mr. Dooley in Peace 
and War; Aldrich, Unguarded Gates; Glasgow, A Southern Hero of the 
New Type; Blaine, The Death of Gariield ; Bryan, The Essence of Pa- 
triotism; Farkhurst, What a Man can do for His Town or City; Guenther, 
The Duty of Naturalized Citizens; Harold Bell Wright, Winning of Bar- 
bara Worth. 

Pictures : Magazines and papers. 



IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

1492. The New World discovered by Columbus. 

1497. The Continent of North America discovered by Cabot. 

1513. Balboa's discovery of the Pacific. 

1519-22. First circumnavigation of the Globe by Magellan. 

1541, De Soto discovers the Mississippi River. 

1565. The first permanent settlement in the United States made by the 

Spaniards at St. Augustine, Florida. 
1588. Destruction of the Armada. 
1607. The first permanent English settlement in the United States made 

at Jamestown, Virginia. 
1619. Representative government established in the EngHsh Colony of 

Virginia. 

1619. Slavery introduced into the English Colony of Virginia. 

1620. The second permanent English settlement established at Plymouth, 

Massachusetts. 

1635. First endowment fund for education in Virginia. 

1636. The first college in the United States at Harvard, Mass. 
1643. Formation of the New England Confederation. 

1664. The English seized New Netherland. 

1685. Forced union under Andros. 

1689. Glorious Revolution in America. 

1732. Georgia, the last of the Thirteen British colonies founded by Ogle- 
thorpe. 
(2) Birth of George Washington. 

1759- Capture of Quebec. 

1763. Peace of Paris, ceding to the British the French possessions in 
America. 

1763. Henry's Speech or the Parson's Case. 

1765. Parliament passed the Stamp Act. 

1768. Townshend Acts. 

1771. The Battle of Alamance. 

1774. The Intolerable Acts. 

1775-81. War of the Revolution. 

1775. Battle of Bunker Hill. 

1776. Declaration of Independence. 

1781. Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown. 
1781. Ratification of the Articles of Confederation. 
1783. Treaty of Paris, making peace between the United States and Great 

Britain. 
1787. Constitution of the United States drawn up by convention. 

474 



IMPORTANT DATES 475 

1789. Washington inaugurated first President of the United States. 

1793- Whitney invented the Cotton Gin. 

1803. Louisiana territory purchased from France. 

1807. Fulton's steamboat made a successful trip. 

1812-15. War with Great Britain. 

1813. Battle of Lake Erie. 

1814. Battle of Lake Champlain. 

1815. Battle of New Orleans. 

1819. Purchase of Florida. 

1820. Missouri Compromise between free and slave states. 
1823. Monroe Doctrine announced. 

1828. First steam railroad. 

1844. First telegraph line established by Morse. 

1845. Annexation of Texas. 
1846-48. War with Mexico. 

1846. Battle of Buena Vista. 

1847. March to Mexico City. 

1848. Mexican cession of territory. 

1850. Compromise of 1850 between free and slave states. 
1854. Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 
1857. Dred Scot Decision. 
1861-65. War between the States. 

1862. Monitor and Merrimac fight, the first battle betwe&n iron- 

clad vessels. 

1863. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. (2) Battle of 

Gettysburg. (3) Surrender of Vicksburg. 
1865. Surrender of Lee at Appomattox. 

1865. Thirteenth Amendment declared in force. 

1866. Tennessee readmitted to the Union. 

1867. Purchase of Alaska. 

1868. Fourteenth Amendment ratified. (2) North Carolina, South Caro- 

lina, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama read- 
mitted. 

1869. First transcontinental railway completed. 

1870. Fifteenth Amendment ratified. (2) Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia 

readmitted. 
1898. War with Spain. 

Battle of Manila. 

Defeat of Cervera's fleet at Santiago de Cuba. 
1902. Isthmian Canal Act. 
1905. Peace of Portsmouth. 
1907. Second Peace Conference at The Hague. 
1907-09. Cruise of the battle fleet around the world. 



476 



STUDENT'S HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY 



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Index 



Abbey, 471 

Abercrombie, General, 116 

Abolitionists, 257-259; oppose annexation 
of Texas, 280; at the outbreak of the 
Civil War, 315; 324-n. 

Acadia, settled, 106; ceded to England, 
no 

Adams, John, in the Second Continental 
Congress, 141; Vice-President, 184; 
President, 197; sketch, 197-n.; death, 
242-n. 

Adams, John Quincy, Secretary of State, 
233; President, 241; sketch, 24i-n.; on 
annexation of Texas, 280 

Adams, Samuel, draws up Circular Let- 
ter, 125; demands removal of troops, 
127; organized committee of corre- 
spondence, 128; opposed constitution, 
179 

Aeroplane, 414 

iVgassiz, Louis (ag'ase), 254 

Agricultural Machinery, 250; 411 

Aguinaldo, Emilio (e-mel'yo ii-ge-nal'do), 

451 

Alabama, admitted, 235; seceded, 310; re- 
admitted, 392 

Alaba)na, Confederate cruiser, 347; battle 
vi'ith Kcarsarge, 379 

" Alabama Claims," 398 

Alamance, battle of, 128 

Alaska, Russian Claim to, 239; purchase 
of. 395; boundary fixed, 460 

Alamo, fall of, 279 

Albany Congress, 113 

Alert, 226-n. 

Algonc|uin (al-gon'kwin), location, 4; in 
Frencii and Indian War, 115 

Alien and Sedition Laws, 198-199 

Allen, Ethan, 134 

Altgeld, Governor, 431-n. 

^Ambrister, 234-n. 

Amendments, the first ten and the 
eleventh, i8o-n.; twelfth, 201; thir- 
teenth, 388; fourteenth, 390-392; fif- 
teenth, 392-393 

American Colonization Society, 227 

American Federation of Labor, 410 

American Flag, 150 

American party, 302 

" American System," 268 

American Tobacco Company, 466 

Amherst, General, 115 

Anmnilsen, Koald (ro'ald a'mun-scn), 414 

Anderson, Major Robert, 317; 319 



Andre, Major John (an'dra), 159 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 70-71; 76 

Anthony, Susan B., 426-n. 

Anti-Chinese movement, 410 

Antietam or Sharpsburg, battle of, 353 

Anti-federalists, 179 

Anti-Xebraska men, 302 

Anti-slavery societies, 256 

Appalachian plateau, 2 

Appomattox Court House, Lee surren- 
ders at, 380-382 

Acjuidneck, island of, 59 

Arbitration, Bering Sea controversy set- 
tled by, 427; Venezuelan boundary set- 
tled by, 433; Alaskan boundary settled 
by, 460; international court of, 465 

Arbuthnot, 234-n. 

Arc light, 412 

Arista, General (a-res'ta), 284 

Arizona, admission of, 469 

Arkansas, admitted, 281; seceded, 321; 
readmitted, 392 

Armada (ar-ma'da), 31 

Armistead, 361 

Army disbanded, 173 

Arnold, Benedict, march through Maine, 
138-139; campaign in New York, 150- 
151; treason, 158-160; death, i6o-n. 

Arthur, Chester A., 415-416; sketch, 
416-n. 

Articles of Confederation, 1 71-172 

Asia, European trade with, 13-15 

Assurnption of State debts, 189-190 

Astoria, 209-n. 

Athapascan Indians (ath-a-pas'kan), 5-n. 

Atlanta, fall of, 376-377; exposition, 432 

Atlantic cable, 396 

Atlantic Coastal Plain, 2 

Audubon, John James, 254 

Augusta, 246 

Austin, Stephen F., 278 

Australian ballot, 417-n. 

Austrian Succession, War of, in 

Automobile, 414 

Aztecs, 4-n. 

B 

" Rack Salary Grab," 400 
Bacon, Sir Francis, 35 
Bacon, Nathaniel, 66-67 
Baffin, 29 

Bahama Islands, 19 
Bainbridge, Captain, 220 



479 



48o 



INDEX 



Balance of power between sections, 235- 
236 

Balboa, 22-:;3 

Baltimore, Lords, 47-48 

Baltimore, Colonial City, 90; in 1790, 
186; attack on, 225-226; in 1830, 245; 
fight in the streets of, 322; fire, 462 

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 247 

Bancroft, 254 

Bank, First United States, 191 ; second, 
230; Jackson and, 268-269; Tyler and, 
276; new national banks, 384-n. 

Banks, General N. P., 348; 364-365 

Barbary pirates, war with, 210-21 1; dur- 
ing War of 1 8 12, 229-n. 

Barclay, Commodore, 223 

Barnburners, 290-n. 

Bartholdi, 423 

Battle fleet, cruise of, 464 

" Bear Flag republic," 285 

Beauregard, General P. G. T. (bo're- 
gard), at Fort Sumter, 320; at Manas- 
sas, 332; in the West, 339-340; at 
Bermuda Hundred, 374 

Belknap, W. W., 400 

Bell, Alexander Graham, 412 

Bell, John, 307 

Belmont, 337-n. 

Bennington, battle of, 150 

Bentonville, battle of, 379 

Bering Sea, seal fisheries, 427 

Berkeley, Lord John, 76-77 

Berkeley, Governor William, 46; 65-67 

Bessemer, 408 

Beverley Ford, battle of, 360 

Bicycle, 413 

Bienville, 1 1 1 

Big Bethel, battle of, 332-n. 

Bi-metallic commission, 436 

Birmingham, 432-n. 

" Black Friday," 401-n. 

Black Hawk War, 270 

Blaine, James G., 415; 418-419 

Blair, F. P., 396 

Blanco, General, 439 

Bland-Allison bill, 407 

Blockade, in War of 1812, 224; in Civil 
War, 321 

Blockade runners, 326 

" Body of Liberties," 57 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 198; sells Louisi- 
ana, 205-206; trickery of, 216; abdica- 
tion of, 224 

Boone, Daniel, 161 

Booth, John Wilkes, 382 

" Border ruffians," 301 

Border states, 322-^23 

Boston, founding of, 56; colonial city, 
86; closing of port, 130; evacuation of, 
139-140; in 1790, 186; in 1830, 245; 
fire, 397 

Boston massacre, 126-127 

Boycott Associations, 124; 132 

Boxer uprising, 452-453 

Braddock, General, 114-115 

Bradford, William, 52 

Bragg, General Braxton, dash into Ken- 
tucky, 343-344; in Tennessee, 366-368 

Brandywine. battle of. 152-153 

Brandywijic, Tlie, 240 



Brant, Joseph, 150; 192 

Breckinridge, John C, 303; 374 

Breed's Hill, 137 

liritish idea of representation, 123 

Brock, General, 218; 219-n. 

Broke, Captain, 220 

Brooke, John M., 346 

Brooke, Lord, 60 

Brooklyn Bridge. 409 

Brooklyn Heights, capture of, 144 

Brooklyn, The, 448 

Brown, General Jacob, 225 

Brown, John, in Kansas, 302; raid at 

Harper's Ferry, 305-306 
Brownsville riot, 456-n. 
Brush, C. F., 412 
Brjan. William Jennings, 434; 454; 

sketch, 467-n. 
Bryant, William Cullen, 253 
Buchanan, James, 3.03; 317 
Buckner, General Simon B., 337-338; 434 
Buell, General Don Carlos, 336; 339; 

343-344 
Buena \'ista (bwa'na ves'ta), battle of. 

285-286 
Bunker Hill, battle of, 137 
Bureau of Chemistry, 449-n. 
Bureau of Forestry, 467 
Burgoyne, General John, invasion of, 

148-151 
Burnside, General Ambrose E., 354 
Burr, Aaron, Vice-President, 201; con- 
spiracy, 214 
Butler, General B. F., in New Orleans, 

341-342; at Bermuda Hundred, 374; 

Greenback candidate, 419-n. 



Cable cars, 413 

Cable, George W., 470 

Cabot, John, 22 

Calhoun, John C, a "war hawk," 218; 
Vice-president, 241; 243; tariff and 
nullification, 263-268; Compromise of 
1850, 296; sketch, 296-n. 

California, conquest of, 285 ; discovery of 
gold in, 290-291; admitted, 297-298; 
the Japanese in, 455 

Camden, battle of, 166-167 

Campbell, Colonel, 165 

Canada (New France), settlement of, 
106; ceded to England, 117; attack on, 
138; War of 1812, 219; reciprocity, 468 

Canal Zone, 458 

Canby, General, 343 

Canonicus (ka-non'i-kus), 54-n. 

Capital, Federal, 189-190 

Carolina, Huguenots in, 28; English set- 
tlement, 80-82 

Carnegie, Andrew, 454-n.; 470 

'■ Carpet Bag " Government, 391-392 

Carteret, Sir George, 76 

Cartier, Jacques (zhak kar'tya'), 27 

Carver, John, 52 

Cass, Lewis, 290 

Catholics, in Maryland, 47-48; in Eng- 
land, 50 

Cavaliers, 46 

Cavite (kav-i-ta'), 442-443 



INDEX 



481 



Cayugas (ka-yu'gaz), 5-n. 

Cedar Creek, battle of, 374 

Cedar Run, battle of, 352 

Cemetery Ridge, 360 

Cerro Gordo, battle of (ser'o-gor'do), 287 

Cervera, Admiral (ther-va'ra), 442; 444; 

448 
( haffin, Eugene W., 467 
Chambers, B. J., 416 
Chambersburg, 374 

Cham]ilain, Samuel de, 32-33; 106-107 
Champion Hill, battle of. 364 
Chancellorsville, battle of, 357 
Charles (13, 35; 45-46; 57; (II), 46; 

66-68; 75; 77; 80 
Charleston; South Carolina, founding of, 

81; colonial city, 86; attack on, 143; 

fall of, 165; in 1790, 186; earthquake, 

420 
" Charter Oak," 71 
Chattanooga, siege of, 367 
Cherokees, 5; Georgia and the, 269-270 
Cherry Valley, massacre at, 161 
Oicsafcake, The, 212; and Shannon, 220 
Chicago, fire at, 397 
Chickamauga, battle of, 366 
Chickasaws (chick'a-saw), 5; 269 
Chickasaw Bayou, battle at, 362 
Chile, 428 
China (Cathay), 13; commercial treaty 

with, 289; the " open door," 452-453 
Chip|)e\va (chip'e-wa), battle of, 224 
Choctaws, 5; 269 

Cibola (se'bo-la), seven cities of, 26 
Cincinnati riots, 422-n. 
Cities, in the colonies, 86; in 1790, 186; 

in 1830, 245; in 1880, 415; improve- 
ment of, 471 
Civil Service Reform, 416-417 
Claiborne, William, 48-49 
Clark, Captain Charles E., 442 
Clark, George Rogers, 162 
Clark, William, 207 
Clay, Henry, " war hawk," 218; the 

" (Ireat Pacificator," 238; Secretary of 

State, 242; on the tariff, 266-268; the 

bank, 268-269; campaign of 1844, 280; 

Compromise of 1850, 295-296; sketch, 

296-n. 
Clayton-Bulwer, treaty, 289; abrogation 

of, 458 
Clermont , The, 209 
Cleveland, Grover, first election, 418; 

sketch, 419-n.; second election, 429; 

sends troops to Chicago, 430-431 
Cliff dwellings, 5-n. 
(.'linton, De Witt, 242 
Clinton, George, Vice-president, 214 
Clinton, Sir Henry, in the South, 139; 

withdraws from Charleston, 143; in 

Philadelphia, 156; in New York, 157; 

in the South, 165 
Cold Harbor, battle of, 373 
Colfax. Schuyler, 396 
Colleges, in the colonies, 56; 67; 98-n.; 

loi-n.; in 1830, 251-252; in 1900, 469- 

470 
Colorado, admitted, 404 
Columbia, 379 



Columbus, Christopher, 16-21 

Commerce and Labor, Department of, 
465 

Commission form of Government, 462-n. 

Committees of Correspondence, 128-129 

Compromise of 1850, 297-298 

Concord, fight at, 132-133 

Conestoga wagons, 89; 246 

Confederacy, cabinet of, 313-n.; commis- 
sioners of, 313; constitution of, 313; 
flag of, 312; 353-n.; hardships in, 369; 
organization of, 310-313 

Confederation, government under, 172- 
173; foreign relations, 173-174; inter- 
state troubles, 174; troubles with the 
soldiers, 173 

Conference of Governors, 467 

Congress, destroyed by Merrimac, 347 

Congressional Library, 470 

Congressional plan of reconstruction, 
389-391 

Connecticut, settlement, 59-61 ; under 
Andros, 70-71; western lands, 171-n. 

Conservation of our natural resources, 
466-467 

Conscription, 370 

Constitution, defeats the Guerriere (gar'- 
ri-ere'), 220 

Constitution, Federal, great compromises 
of, 177-178; nature of, 178-179; ratifi- 
cation of, 179-180; kind of union, 180- 
181 

Continental Congress (First), 1 31-132; 
(Second), 136; inefficiency of, iS5-n. 

Continental Currency, 146-n. 

" Contrabands," 355-n. 

Conway Cabal, 156 

Cooper, James Fenimore, 253 

Cooper, Peter, 247; 403-n. 

Corcoran Art Gallery, 470 

Corinth, evacuation of, 339-340; battle 
of, 344 

Cornwallis, Lord, campaign in New Jer- 
sey, 145-148; at Brandywine, 152; in 
the South, 165-170 

Coronado (ko-ro-na'do), 26 

Corporations, formation of, 407-408 

Cortez, Hernando (her-nan'do kor'tez), 
25 

Cotton-gin, 187 

Cowpens, battle of, 168 

Coxey's Army, 429-n. 

Crater, battle of the, 375 

Crawford, W. H., 233 

Crazy Horse, 401 

Credit Mobilier (kra'de' mo-be'Iya'), 399 

Creek Indians, 5; 226; 269 

Creoles, 206-n. 

Crittenden Compromise, 316 

Croatoan, 32 

Cromwell, Oliver, 35; 46; 57; 65 

Crown Point, no; Ethan Allen takes, 
134; Burgoyne captures, 149 

Cuba, discovery of, 19; Spain's mis- 
government of, 437-439; independence 
recognized by United States, 440; re- 
public of, 456-457 

Gulp's Hill, .360 

Cumberland, sunk by the Merrimac, 346 



482 



INDEX 



Cumberland Road, 230-n.; 246-247 
Custer, General George A., 401 
Czolgosz, Leon (shol'gosh), 455 



D 



Daiquire Cdi-ke're), 446 

Daguerre (da-gair'), 251 

Dale, Sir Thomas, 42 

Dallas, George M., 280 

Dalton, Confederate works at, 375 

Dana, J. D., 254 
"Dare, Virginia, 31 

" Dark Horse," 280-n. 

" Daughters of Liberty," 125-n. 

Davenport, John, 61. 

Davis, search for northwest passage, 29 

Davis, Henry G., 463 

Davis, Jefferson, 234-n.; in the Mexican 
War, 286-n. ; on the compromise of 
1850, 297; President of the Confed- 
eracy, 311; sketch, 311-n. ; imprison- 
ment, 383; death, 420 

Davis, Sam, 367-n. 

Dearborn, General, 219 

Debs, Eugene V., 463 

Decatur, Commodore Stephen, war with 
Tripoli, 211; in War of 1812, 220; sub- 
dued Barbary pirates, 22g-n. 

Declaration of Independence, 140-141 

Declaratory Act, 125 

Decrees, French, 211-212 

Delaware, Dutch and Swedes in, 75 ; 
Penn bought, 79-80 

Delaware, Lord, 42 

DeLong, Commodore, 414 

Democratic party, beginning of, 191-192; 
name, 192-n. 

Demonetization of silver, 401 

Dependent Pension Act, 425 

Deposits, removal of, 269 

Detroit, surrender of, 218-219; taken by 
Harrison, 224 

Dewey, Admiral George, victory at Ma- 
nila, 442-443; sketch, 442-n. 

Directory, 198 

Dissenters, 50 

Distribution of surplus, 271; 273 

District of Columbia, 190 

Donelson, Fort, fall of, 337 

Dorchester Heights, 139-140 

Dorr rebellion, 259-n. 

Douglas, Stephen A., on Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill, 300-301; sketch, 300-n. ; debates, 
304-305; candidate for Presidency, 307 

Dow, General Neal, 416 

Dowling, Lieutenant Richard, 364 

Downie, Commodore, 225 

Draft riots, 370 _ • 

Drake, Sir Francis, 28-29; 31 

Drayton, General T. F. and Captain 
Percival, 335-n. 

Dred Scott decision, 303-304 

Duncan, General Johnson K., 341 

Dunmore, Lord, 1 39 

Duquesne, Fort (dii-kanO, 112-115 

Dustin. Plannah, io8-n. 



Dutch, settlements in Hudson and Dela- 
ware valleys, 72-75; conquered by 
English, 75-76; in the middle colonies, 
100-103 

Dynamite, 411 



Eads bridge at St. Louis, 409 

Eads, James B., 411 

Early, Jubal A., 358; 374 

Eaton, Theophilus, 61 

Edison, Thomas A., 412 

Education, in the colonies, 92-93; 97-98; 
101-102; about 1830, 251-252; about 
1900, 469-470 

Edwards, Jonathan, 97-98 

Elections, presidential, first, 183-184; 
method of, 184-n.; 197-n.; second, 197; 
of Jefferson, 201; of 1808, 214-215; of 
Monroe, 222; of John Ouincy Adams, 
241; of 1828, 243; Jackson's reelection, 
268-269; "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," 
-73-274; of 1844, 280-281; of 1848, 
290; of 1856. 303; of i860, 306-307; 
Lmcoln's reelection, 382; of Grant, 
396-397; of 1872, 399; disputed elec- 
tion of 1876, 402-403; of 1880, 415- 
416; of 1884, 418-419; of 1888, 423- 
424; of 1892, 429; of 1896, 433-434; 
reelection of McKinley, 453-454; of 
1904, 463; of 1908, 467-468 

Electoral Commission, 403 

Electoral Count Act, 420 

Electricity, 412-413 

Elevated railways, 413 

Elevators, 411 

Eliot, John, 69-n. 

Elizabeth. Queen of England, 29; 35 

Elkins Law, 466 

Emancipation proclamation, 355-356 

Embargo Act, 213 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 254 

Emigrant Aid Societies, 301 

Endicott, John, 55 

Enforcing Act, 214 

England, claim to America, 22; impress- 
ment, 194-195; 212; treaty of 1818, 
233; during Civil War, 326; during 
Spanish War, 450 

English, W. H., 415 

" Era of Good Feeling," 240 

Ericsson, John, 246-n. ; 347 

Ericson, Leif, 14-n. 

Erie Canal, 231; 242 

Essex, captures the Alert, 226-n. 

Evans, Admiral Robley D., 464-n. 

Evans, General, 332 

Everett, Edward, 307 

Ewell, General Richard S., 359 

Exchange of prisoners, 370-371 

Excise law, 190 

Executive departments, established, 187 

Expositions, Centennial at Philadelphia, 
403-404; America's first world's fair, 
404-n. ; Centennial at Yorktown, 418; 
at Atlanta, 418; Cotton Centennial, 
418; World's Columbian, 431-432; At- 
lanta, 432; Pan-American, 454; at 



INDEX 



483 



Charleston, 460; Louisiana Purchase, 
460-461; at Portland, 461; at James- 
town, 461; Hudson-Fulton, 462 

Extradition of criminals, -'77 

Ezekiel, Moses, 471 



Fairbanks, Charles W., 463 

Faneuil Hall, 126; 127-n. 

Farmer's Alliance, 421-n. 

Farragut, Admiral, David G., 341-342; 
sketch, 341-n.; at Mobile, 378 

Federal Convention, 177-178 

Fcilcralist Papers, i8o-n. 

Federalists, supporters of the Constitu- 
tion, 179-180; party, 191-19-; 

Ferdinand and Isabella, 17 

Ferguson, Colonel Patrick, 167 

Field, Cyrus, 396 

Field, James G. 4J9n. 

Fillmore, Millard, Vice-president, .'go; 
President, 297; sketch, J97-n.; candi- 
date of American party, 303 

Firearms, improvements in, 250; 411 

Fisher, Fort, capture of, 378 

Fisheries, Grand Banks, treaty of 1783, 
170; treaty of 18 18, 233; treaty of 
Washington, 399; seal, 427 

Fiske, John, 471 

Five Forks, battle of, 379-380 

" Five Nations," 4; 107 

Florida, discovery of, 24; ceded to Eng- 
land, 117; re-ceded to Spain, 170; pur- 
chase of, 233-234; admitted, 282; se- 
ceded, 310; readmitted, 392 

Florida, Confederate cruiser, 347; 379-n. 

Floyd, General, 337 

" Flying Squadron," 441 

Foote, Commodore Andrew H., 337 

Forbes, General, 116 

Force Bills, 394; 407-n. 

Ford, J. F., 471 

Forest fires, 397 

Forrest, (leneral Nathan B., 362; 368 

" Forty-niners," 291 

France, settlements in America, 26-28; 
106-108; iio-iii; loss of America, 
117; aids United States, 154; the 
French Revolution, 193; in Mexico, 

394-395 

Franklin, Benjamin, writer, 101-102; pro- 
posed Albany plan, 113; sketch, ii3-n.; 
agent to France, 154; in Federal Con- 
vention, 176 

Franklin, state of, 171-n. 

Frazier's l-"arm, battle of, 351 

Fredericksburg, battle of, 354 

Freedman's Bureau, 388-389 

Free Soil party, 200 

French & Indian War, 112-117 

French, Daniel, 471 

Friction matches, 251 

Frobisher, Martin (frob'isher), 29 

Frolic captured by H'asf, 220 

Frontenac, Governor, 108 

Fugitive slave law, provision for, 178; 
of '793. ^36; of 1850, 298 

Fulton, Robert, 209 



" Fundamental Orders " of Connecticut, 

61 
Funston, General Frederick, 452 



Gadsden purchase, 288-n. 

Gage, General Thomas, 131; 132; 137 

Gaines's Mill, battle of, 351 

Gallatin, Albert, 204 

Galveston, in Civil War, 347; jetties at, 

41 i-n. ; flood, 462 
Gama, Vasco da (vas'ko da gii'mii), 14 
(iarcia, tieneral (gar-the'aj, .jj8 
Garfield, James A., "dark hjrse," 4 1 f, : 

assassination of, 416; sketch, 416-n. 
(Garland, A. H., 420 
Garrison, William Lloyd, 257; 280 
Gates, General Horatio, succeeds Schuy- 
ler, 151; at Camden, 166-167 
Genet, "Citizen," 193-194 
(Jeography, limited knowledge of, 12-16 
George, King (II), 83; (III), 120 
Georgia, settlement, 82-84; western lands. 
172-n.; and the Indians, 269; seceded, 
310; readmitted, 392 
Germans, in Pennsylvania, 78; in Georgia, 

83 
r.ermantown, battle of, 153 
Gerry, Elbridge, 198 
Gettysburg, battle of, 360-362 
Client, peace of, 228-229 
Gdbert, Sir Humphrey, 29-30 
"Glorious Revolution," 71-72 
Gold, discovery of in California, 290- 
291; in Black Hills and in (Oregon, 
401-402; in the Klondike, 460 
Gold coin, 407-n.; unit of value, 436 
Gomez, General, 438 
Goodyear, Charles, 250 
Gordon, General John B., 380 
Gorgas, Dr. W. C., 459-n. 
(Irand Alliance, war of, 108 
" (;rand Model," 81 
" Grangers," 421-n. 

Grant, General U. S., in Mexican War. 
288-n.; in the West, 337-3391 344; 3(>- 
364; 367; in the East, 37^-37-; 379- 
382; President, 396-397; deat!i,' 420 
Grasse, Count de, 169 
Gray, Asa, 254 
(iray, Elisha, 412 
Gray, Captain Robert, 208-n.; 282 
" Great Awakening," 97 
Great Debate, the, 265-266 
(ireely, A. W., 414 
G'reeley, Horace, 399 
Greenbacks, issued, 384; the partv. 403n.; 

415 
Greene, General Nathaniel, 168 
Grenville, Lord, 123 
Guadalupe Hidalgo, peace of (gwa-da- 

166'pa hc-dal'go), 288 
Guam (gwrim), 450 
Guanahani (gwa-nji-ha'ni), 19 
Guantanamo (gwan'ta-na'mo), 446-n. 
Gucrricre, the, 220 

Guilford Court House, battle of, 168 
Guiteau, Chas. J., 416 



484 



TNDEX 



H 



Hadley, attack on, 70 

Hale, Nathan, 144 

Half-Moon, the, 73 

Halleck, General Henry W., in the West, 
334: military adviser, 344 

Hamilton, Alexander, supports Constitu- 
tion, 179-180; Secretary of the Treas- 
viry, 187; financial schemes, 188-191; 
sketch, i88-n.; party, 191-192; death, 
214. 

Hamilton, Colonel, 162 

Hamlin, Hannibal, 307 

Hampton, General Wade, 373 

Hancock, General W. S., 361; 415 

Harbors, improvement of, 411-412 

Hardee, General William, 378 

Harnden, W. F., 252-n. 

Harper's Ferry, raid at, 305-306: Jackson 
took, 353 

Harris, Joel Chandler, 470 

Harrison, Benjamin, 424; sketch, 424-n.; 
427 

Harrison, William Henry, at Tippecanoe, 
217; War of 1812, 221-224; President 
275; sketch, 275-n. 

Harte, Bret, 470 

Hartford, 58; 60 

Hartford Convention, 229 

Hatteras, Fort, 335 

Hawaii (ha-wi'e), 432; 451 

Hawkins, Captain John, 28 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 254 

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (bii-no' va-re'- 
ya), 458 

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (pons'foot), 458 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 402-403; sketch, 
406-n. 

Hayne, Robert Y., 265-266 

Hearst, William R., 467 

Hendricks, Thomas A., 402; 419; 420 

Henry, Fort, fall of, ay 

Henrv Letters, 217-n. 

Henry, Patrick, on the Parson's Cause, 
122; opposes Stamp Act, 124; for in- 
dependence, 141; governor of ^'lr- 
ginia, 162; opposes constitution, 179 

Henry, the Navigator, Prince, 14 

Herkimer, General Nicholas, 150 

Hermitage, the, 262 

Hessians, 140; 147 

Hill, General A. P., 359 

Hisgen, Thomas L., 468 

Plobart, Garret A., 434; 454-n. 

Hobson, Lieutenant Richmond P., 445 

Hoe, Richard M., 250 

Hogan (ho'gan), 5. 

Holland, 14; 72; 75; 154 

Holly Springs, 362 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 253-254 

" Holy Alliance," 239-240 

Hood, General John B., 376-378 

Hooker, General Joseph, 354; 337-358 

Hooker, Thomas, 60 

Hornet, captured the Peacock, 220 

Horse Shoe Bend, battle of, 227 

Houston, General Sam, 279 

Howe, Elias, 250 



Howe, General Robert, 116 

Howe, General William, at Bunker Hill, 
137; evacuation of Boston, 139-140; 
takes New York, 143-145; in Philadel- 
phia, 151-153 

Howells, William Dean, 470 

Hudson, Henry, under the English flag, 
29; under the Dutch flag, 73 

Huger, General Benjamin (ij-je'), 328 

Huguenots (hij'ge-nots), massacred by the 
Spanish, 27-28; in South Carolina, 80- 
81 

Hull, Captain Isaac, 220 

Hull, General William, 218-219 

Hunter, General, 372 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 58-59 
I 

Idaho, admitted, 426 

Illinois, conquest of, 162; admitted, 235 

Illuminating gas, 251 

Immigration, the Great, 56; about 1830, 
245; Chinese, 410; restriction of, 422- 
4-^3; 455-456 

Impressment, 194-195 

Incandescent light, 412 

Indented servants, 44; 91-92; 94; 100 

Inde])endence Hall, 136 

Independent Democrats, 467 

Independent Treasury, 273; 276; 283 

India, trade relations with, 13-16 

Indiana, admitted, 234 

Indians, general sketch of, 3-1 1 ; and the 
colonists, 44; 45; 53; 54; 60; 69; 70; 
in the French and Indian Wars, 105- 
118; in the American Revolution, 161- 
162; in the Northwest, 192-193; 217; 
in the War of 1812, 226-227; in 
Florida, 233; 270; in Georgia, 269-270; 
In Illinois, 270; in the Civil War, 
342-n.; in the Northwest, 401-402; in 
the Spanish-American War, 446-n. 

Indian Territory, 270; admitted as part 
of Oklahoma, 427 

Initiative, referendum, and recall, 469-11. 

Insurgent Republicans, 468 

Internal improvements, after War of 
18 1 2, 230-231; under J. Q. Adams, 242; 
under Jackson, 271 

Interstate Commerce Act, 421-422 

" Intolerable Acts," 130-131 

Iowa, admitted, 282 

Iron-clad vessels, 325; 342-n.; 345-347 

Iroquois (ir'o-kwoi'), 4-5; 33; 107 

Irving, Washington, 253 

Island No. 10, capture of, 340 

Isthmian Canal, treaties concerning by 
1850, 289; building of, 457-460 

Italy, 13; 428 

luka, battle of, 344 



Jackson, Andrew, in the War of 1812, 
226-228; in Florida, 234; in the elec- 
tion of 1824, 241; election of, 243; 
sketch, 262-n.; and the spoils system, 
262-263; and South Carolina, 267-268; 
and the bank, 268-269; and the Georgia 
Indians, 269-270; and foreign affairs. 



L\DEX 



485 



271; and internal improvements, 271; 
and Texas, 280 
Jackson, Fort, 340 

Jackson, General Thomas J. (Stonewall), 
at first battle of Manassas, 33-'-333; 
the' valley campaign, 350; sketch, 
350-n.; with Lee in 1862, 351-354; at 
Chancellorsville, 357-358; death, 358- 
359 ^ 

James, King (I), 35; 45; (II), as Duke 
of York, 76; as King, 70-71; 105; 108 

Jamestown, 37-4J 

Japan, treaty with, 289-290; and Cali- 
fornia. 455-456 

Jasper, Sergeant, 143 

Java, captured by the Constitution, 220 

Jay, John, 188 

Jay Treaty, 195-196 

Jefferson, Thomas, draws up Declaration 
of Independence. 141; Secretary of 
State, 187; opposed Hamilton, 188-192; 
election, 201; sketch, 203-n.; purchase 
of Louisiana, 205-207; and the Bar- 
bary pirates, 210-21 1; and the Em- 
bargo, 213-214; on the Missouri Com- 
promise, 239-n.; death, 242-n. 

Jetties, 411 

Johnson, Andrew, military governor of 
Tennessee, 338; Vice-president, 382; 
President, 383; plan of reconstruction, 
386-388; sketch, 387-n.; impeachment, 
395-396 

Johnson, Herschel v., 307 

Johnson, Richard M., 272 

Johnston, General Albert Sidney, quells 
Morman uprising, 304; in command in 
the West, 329; sketch, 336-n.; death, 
339 

Johnston, General Joseph E., in com- 
mand in the East, 328; at Manassas, 
332; wounded at Seven Pines, 349; at 
Vicksburg, 363-364; retreating before 
Sherman, 375-376; superseded in the 
command, 376; sketch, 376-n. ; in the 
Carolinas, 379 

Johnstown flood, 462-n. 

Joliet (zho'le-a'j, 107 

Jones, John Paul, 162-163 

Juarez, Benito (ba-ne'to hwa'ras), 395 

Judiciary Act, 201 

Junta, C'uban, 438 



Kalb, Baron de, 153; 166 

Kansas, struggle for, 301-302; admitted, 
302 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 300-301 

Kearney, General Stephen W., 285 

Kcarsarge defeats the Alabama, 379 

Kentucky, settlement of, 162; threatened 
secession from Confederation, 174; ad- 
mitted, 186 

Kentucky and N'irginia Resolutions, 199- 
200 

Kern, John W., 467 

Keyc (kce), 5 

King, William R., 300-n. 



King, Rufus, 232 

King George's War, 111-112 

King Philip's War, 69-70 

King's Mountain, battle of, 167-168 

King William's War, 108-109 

" Kitchen Cabinet," 263 

Klondike, 460 

Knights of Labor, 410 

Know-nothing party, 303-n. 

Knox, Henry, 187 

Knoxville, siege of, 368 

Kosciusko, 153 

Ku-Klux Klan, 393-394 



Labor Union, 410 

Labor troubles, 409-410; strike among 
steel workers, 429; Pullman strike, 430- 
431; anthracite miners, 465 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 153; at Yorktown, 
168-170; visit, 240 

Lake Champlain, discovery of, 33; 106; 
battle of, 225 

Lake Erie, battle of, 22^-22^ 

Lamar, L. Q. C, 420 

Lane, Joseph, 307 

Lanier, Sidney, 470 

La Salle (la sal'J, descended the Mis- 
sissippi, 107-108; landed on Texas 
coast, 108 

Las Guasimas (las gwas'e-mas), 446 

Laivrence, the, 223 

Lawton, General, 447; 452-n. 

Leavenworth, Fort, 285 

Lee, General Charles, in New York, 145- 
146; disobedience of, 156 

Lee, (General Fitzhugh, 438 

Lee, Fort, 144-145 

Lee, General Henry, " Light Horse 
Harry," 158-n.; 168; 201-n. 

Lee, Richard Henry, 141 

Lee, General Robert E., in the Mexican 
War, 288-n.; at Harper's Ferry, 306; 
in West Virginia, 330; in command of 
the Army of Northern X'irginia, 349; 
sketch, 350-n.; first invasion of the 
North, 353-354; second invasion of the 
North, 359-361; surrender, 380-382; 
death, 380-n. 

Lee, General Stephen D., 362 

Leisler, Jacob, 76 

Leon, Ponce de (pon'tha da la-on'), 24- 
25 

Leopard, defeats the Chesapeake, 212 

Lewis and Clark expedition, 207-208 

Lexington, battle of, 132-133 

Liberator, The, 257 

Liberia, 22j 

Life-saving service, 414-n. 

Liliuokalani, Queen (leTe-66-6-ka-lii'nc), 
.432 
• Lincoln, Abraham, 234-n.; debates with 
Douglas, 304-305; election, 307; sketch, 
317-n.; reelection, 382; assassination, 
382-383; plan of reconstruction, 3S6 

Lincoln, (icneral Benjamin, 165; 175 

Lincoln-Douglas debates, 304-305 

Literature, in the colonies, 98; 10 1; about 
1840, 252-254; about 1900, 470-471 



486 



INDEX 



Little Belt defeated by the President, 
2i6-n. 

Livingstone, Robert R., 205 

Locke, John, 81 

Logan, John A., 419 

Long, Dr. Crawford W., 251 

Longfellow, Henry W., 253 

Long Island, battle of, 144 

Longstreet, General James, 367; 372-0. 

Lookout Mountain, battle of, 366 

Lords of Trade, i 13 

London Company, 35-37 < 45 

Louisburg, capture of, 111-112; i 15-116 

Louisiana, discovered by the French, 107- 
108; passed to Spain and England, 117; 
transferred to France, 204-205; pur- 
chase, 205-207; admitted, 234; seceded, 
310; readmitted, 392 

Louisiana, the, 340 

Lovell, General Mansfield, 341 

Lowell, James Russell, 253 

Loyalists (Tories), 145 

Lundy's Lane, battle of, 225 

Luzon, 451 

Lyon, General Nathaniel, 334 



M 



McClellan, General George B., in West 
Virginia, 330; in command Army of 
the Potomac, 34S-351; 353-354: sketch, 
348-n.; presidential candidate, 382 

McComb, General, 225 

McCormick, Cyrus IL, 250 

McCullough, General Ben, 334; 342 

Macedonian, captured by the United 
States, 220 

McHenry, Fort, 226 

Mackenzie, Alexander, 233-n. 

McKinley, William, election of. 434; 
sketch. 436-n. ; assassination, 455 

McMaster, J. B., 471 

Madison, James, in the Federal Conven- 
tion, 176-177; 179-180; President, 215; 
sketch, 216-n. 

Magellan, Ferdinand (ma-jel'an), 22-23 

Magruder, General John B., 328; 347 

Mails, in the colonies, 89-90 

Maine, admitted, 238-239; statewide pro- 
hi,T)ition, 255; boundary. 277 

Maine, the sinking of, 439-440 

Malvern Hill, battle of", 351 

Manassas, or Bull Run, first battle of, 
33^-333; second battle of, 351-353 

Manhattan Island, bought from the In- 
dians, 74 

Manhattan Bridge, 409-n. 

Manila, battle of, 442-443; surrender of, 

449 
Mansfield, or Sabine Cross Roads, battle 

of, 365 
Manufactures, after War of 18 12, 229- 

230 
Marconi wireless telegraph, 459-n. 
Marco Polo, 14-15 

Marion, Francis, the " Swamp Fox," 166 
Marque and reprisal, letters of, 321 
Marquette, Father (mar'kef), 107 



Marshall, John, minister to France, igS; 
Chief Justice, 201; sustained Indians, 
270 

Maryland, settlement of, 47-49; 67; ratifi- 
cation of the Articles of Confedera- 
tion, 171-172 

Mason and Dixon's line, 67-68; 79 

Mason, James M., 335 

Massachusetts, settlement, 54-57; reli- 
gious dissensions, 57-58; emigration 
from, 58-60; Indian Wars, 60-61; 69- 
70; loss of charter, 70-71; Glorious 
Revolution in, 71-72; loss of charter, 
130-131 

Massasoit (mas'a-soit), 54 

Matamoras, 285 

Mather, Cotton, 98 

Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 254 

Maximilian, emperor of Mexico, 394-395 

Mayflower, the, 52-53 

Meade, General George G., 360-362; 
sketch, 360-n. 

Mechanicsville, battle of, 351 

Mecklenburg Declaration of Independ- 
ence, 140 

Megaphone, 413 

Meigs, Fort, 223 

Memjihis, fall of, 340 

Menendez (ma-nen'deth), 28 

Mcrrimac (Virginia), 345-347 

Merrimac, the collier, 445 

Merritt, General Wesley, 443-449 

Metropolitan Museum, 470 

Mexican War, 283-288 

Mexico, conquest of, 25; 394-395 

Michigan, admitted, 281 

Middle Colonies, life in, 100-103 

" Midniglit Judges," 201 

Miles, General Nelson A.. 402; 446 

Military Academy at West Point, 252 

Military review, 384-n. 

Miller, Joaquin. 470 

Mill Spring, battle of, 336-337 

Mills, Roger Q., 424 

Minims, Fort, massacre at, 226 

Minnesota, admitted, 307 

Mint establislied, 191 

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 367 

Mississippi River, discovery of, 25 

Mississippi, admitted, 235; seceded, 310; 
readmitted, sg2 

Missouri, question of, 234-238: the com- 
promise, 238-239; contest over. 334 

Mitchell. Commodore John K., 341 

Mitchell's Peak, 2 

Mi)l)ile, founding of, 110; capture of, 378 

" Moderators," 128 

Modoc War, 401 

Mohawk Indians, s 

Molasses Act, 120-n. 

M '•nitor, 347 

Monmouth Court House, battle of, 156 

Monroe Doctrine, proclaimed, 239-240; 
Mexico and, 394-395; Great Britain 
and, 433 

Monroe, Fortress, 330 

Monroe, James, envoy to France, 205; 
President, 2^2; sketch, 232-n. 

Montana, admitted, 426 



INDEX 



487 



Montcalm, Marquis de, 115; 117 

Monterey, capture of, 285 

Monteomery, Alabama, the capital of the 

t^onfederacy, 311 
Montgomery, General Richard, 138-139 
Montojo, Admiral (mon'to-ho'). 443 
Moore's Creek, fight at, 139 
Morgan, General Daniel, 150; 168 
Morgan, General John H., 366-n. 
Morgan, John T., 459-460 
Mormons, founded, J55; uprising, 304; 

law against, 426 
Morris, Robert, 145-146 
Morristown. 148 
Morse, Samuel F. B., 249 
Morton, Levi P., 424 
Motorcycle. 413 
Moultrie, Colonel, 143 
Mound builders, 4-11. 
Mount \'ernon, 196 
" Mugwump," 419 
Murfreesboro or Stone River, battle of, 

344-345 
Muskogee Indians (mus-ko'ge), s 

N 

Narragansetts (nar-ra-gan'setts), 58-60; 
69 

Narvaez (nar-va'eth), 25 

Nashville, battle of, 378 

Naslrrille, the. Confederate cruiser, 334 

Nat Turner Insurrection, 258 

Naturalization Act, 199 

Naval Academy at Annapolis, 252 

Navigation Acts, 120-121 

Navy of the United States, 425 

Nebraska, admitted, 395 

•Necessity, Fort, fight at, 11 2-1 13 

Nevada, admitted, 384 

Nevin, Ethelbert, 471 

New Amsterdam, 74-75 

Newburgh address, 173 

New England, life in, 94-100 

New England Confederation, 61-62 

New France. 106 

New Hampshire, separated from Massa- 
chusetts. 72 

New Haven, 61; 68 

New Jersey, settlement of, 76-7y; cam- 
paign, 14s 

New Market, battle of, 374 

New Mexico, admitted, 469 

New Orleans, founded, 1 10-111; passed 
to Spain, 117; battle of, 227-228; fall 
of, 340-342 

Newport, Captain Christopher, 37 

Newspapers and magazines, in the col- 
onies, 89-90; about 1840, 252; about 
1900, 470 

New York, discovery of harbor of, 27; 
settlement of, 74-75; Englisli conquest 
of. 75-76; assembly dissolved, 125; 
campaign in, 143-145; 148-151; west- 
ern lands, 171; capital, 184; riots, 370 
Nez Perces, 402 
Niagara, the, 224 
Nina, the (neen'ya), 18 
Non-importation societies, 132 



Non-intercourse Act, 213-214 

Norfolk, burning of, 139 

North, population and resources in i860, 
3-4-325; point of view of, 323; plan 
of operations, 329—330 

North, Lord, 129 

North Carolina, settlement of, 82; se- 
ceded. 321; readmitted, 392 

North Dakota, admitted, 426 

Northmen, 14-n. 

North Pole, discovery of, 414 

Northwest territory, 171-172; 175-176; 
192 

Nullification, 266-268 

o 

Ocean steamships, 210-n.; 246-n. 

Oglethorpe, James, 82-83 

Ohio Company, 112 

Ohio, admitted, 209 

Oil in Pennsylvania, 250-n.; 291; in 

Texas and in Oklahoma, 432 
Oklahoma, admitted, 426 
Olustee, battle of, 369 
Olympia. Dewey's flagship, 442 
" Omnibus Bill," 296 
Oneidas (6-nI'daz), 5-n. 
Onondagas (on'on-da'gaz), 5-n. 
Opechancanough (o-pech-an-ka'no), 44 

Open door," 452-453 
Orange, Fort (Albany), 74 
"Orders in Council," 211-212 
Ordinance of 1787, 175-176 
Oregon, claim of United States to, 208- 

209; treaty for joint occupation, 233, 

question settled, 282-283; admitted, 307 
Oregon, the, 441 
Oriskany, battle of, 150 
Osceola, 270 
Osgood, Samuel, 187-n. 
Otis, James, 121 
Otis, General, 451 
Ottawas (ot'ta-waz), u 



Pacific cable, 459-n. 

Pacific Ocean, discovery of, 22-23 

Pacific railroads, 399 

Page, Thomas Nelson, 470 

Pakenham, General, 227-228 

Palma, Tomas Estrada, 457 

Palmer, John M., 434 

Palmito (pal-me'to), battle of, 382-n. 

Palo Alto (pa'lo al'to), battle of, 284-285 

Panama, French works purchased, 457- 
458; secession of, 458; canal, 458-460 

Pan-American Congresses, 242; 454-n. 

Panic, of 1819, 242; of 1837, 273; of 
1873, 401; of 1893, 4^9- 

Paper money. Continental Congress is- 
sues, 146; states issue, 174-175; by 
state banks, 271-272; Confederate, 369; 
by the United States, 384; made re- 
deemable, 401 

Paris, peace of 1763, 117; peace of 1783, 
170; peace of 1898, 449-450 



488 



INDEX 



Parker, Alton B., 463 

Parkman, Francis, 254 

Parsons' Cause, 123 

Patents, 250-n. 

Patroons, 74 

Patterson, General Robert, 330 

Peace Conference at Washington, 317 

I'eace Conference at The Hague, 464-465 

Peacock, captured by the Hornet, 220 

Pea Ridge or Elk Horn, battle of, 342 

Peary, Commodore Robert F., 414 

Pelham, Major John, 3s8-n. 

Pemberton, General John C, 363-364 

Peninsula campaign, 348-350 

Penn, William, 77-80 

Pennsylvania, 78-79 

Pensions, 464-n. 

Pequot War, 60 

Perry, Matthew C, 289-290 

Perry, Oliver Hazard, 223-224 

Perryville, battle of, 343 

Personal Liberty laws, 298-299 

" Pet banks," 269 

Philadelphia, founding of, 78: campaign, 

i5i~i53; evacuation of, 156 
Philadelpliia, the, 211 
Philippines, discovery of, 23; ceded to 

United States, 450; insurrection in, 

451-452 
Philip, Captain Jack, 448-n. 
Phonograph, 413 
Pickens. Andrew, 166 
Pickett's division, 361; 380 
Pierce, Franklin, 299; sketch, 299-n. 
Pike, Colonel Albert, 342-n. 
Pike, Colonel Zebulon, 209 
Pilgrims, 51-53 
Pillow, General, 337 
Pillow, Fort, 368 
Pinchot, Gifford (pin'cho), 467 
Pinckney, Charles C, 197 
Pinta (peen'ta), 17 
Pinzon brothers (peen-zon'), 18 
Pious fund, 465-n. 
Pitcairn, Major, 133 
Pitt, Fort, ii6-n. 
Pitt, William, 115; 125 
Pleasonton, General, 360 
Plymouth, colony founded, 53-54; added 

to Massachusetts, yz 
Pocahontas, 41-n. 
Poe, Edgar Allan, 253 
Polar exploration, 414 
Polk, James K., 280-281; sketch, 281-n. 
Polk, General Leonidas, 337-n' 
Pontiac's conspiracy, 11 7-1 18 
Poor Richard defeats the Scrapis, 162- 

163 
Pope, General John, 340; 351 
Population, in the colonies, 86; in 1790, 

186; in 1830, 245-246; in i860, 324; in 

1880, 415; in 1910, 468 
Populist party, 429; 434: 463; 467 
Porter, Captain David D., 341 
Port Hudson, 363 
Porto Rico, 449; 451 
Port Royal (S. C), Huguenot settlement, 

27-28; taken by the Federals, 334: 



(Nova Scotia), taken by the English, 

1 10 
Portsmouth, Peace of, 463-464 
Postal rates, about 1830, 252-n.; about 

1880, 417-n. 
Powhatan, 41 
Preble, Commodore, 211 
Prescott, Colonel, 137 
Prescott, W. H., 254 
President, the, defeats the Little Belt, 

2i6-n. 
Presidential Succession Act, 420 
Prevost, General, 225 
Price, General Sterling, 334; 344; 365 
Princeton, battle of, 147-148 
Printing, improvement in by 1830, 250; 

about 1880, 411 
Prisons, reforms in by 1830, 255; war, 

369-370 
Privateers, in the Revolution, 162; m 

War of 1812, 226; in Civil War, 331 
Proclamation of Neutrality, of 1793, 193; 

England's, 326 
Proctor, General, 223 
Prohibition movement, about 1830, 255- 

256; about 1880, 416-n. 
Prophet, the, 217 
Proprietary colonies, 87 
Pueblo Indians, s-n. 
Pulaski, 153 
Punishment of crime, in the colonies, 87- 

88; about 1830, 25s 
Pure Food Law, 449-n. 
Puritans, in England, 50; settle Massa- 
chusetts, 54-56 
Putnam, General, 144 

Q 

Quakers, persecuted in Massachusetts, 

63; in Pennsylvania, 77-78 
Quartering Act, 123 
Quebec, settlement of, :i:i; fall of, 116- 

117; Arnold's attack on, 138-139 
Quebec Act, 131-n. 
Queen Anne's War, 109-110 
Queenstown Heights, battle of, 219 

R 

Railroads, from 1830 to 1850, 247-248; 

399-400; 407 
Raisin River massacre, 221-223 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 29-32 
Randolph, Edmund, 187-n. 
Reciprocity, in 1890, 424; in 1897, 457i 

with Canada, 468 
Reclamation service, 466-467 
Reconstruction Act, 390-391 
Red River expedition, 364-365 
Reed, Walter, 456-n. 
" Regulators," 128 

Reina Christina (ra-e'na chris-te'na), 443 
Religious conditions, in the colonies, 92- 

93; 9(i-97\ 101-102; about 1830, 254- 

255 



INDEX 



489 



Removal of deposits, 269 

Republican colonies, 87 

Republican party, 302 

Resaca de la Palma (ra-sa'ca da la' pal'- 
maj, 284-285 

Resumption of Specie Payments Act, 401 

Returning boards, 394-n. 

Revival of Learning, 15-16 

Revolution, American, causes of, 119- 
135; principal e\'ents of, 135-170; re- 
sults of, 170 

Reynolds. General John F., 360 

Rhode Island, settlement of, 59; not in 
Federal Convention, 176; ratifies Con- 
stitution, 180 

Rich Mountain, battle of, 330 

Richmond, battle of, 344 

Richmond, capital of the Confederacy, 
32 J ; siege of, 375; fall of, 380 

Riley, James Whitcomb, 470 

Roanoke Island, Raleigh's colonies on, 
30-31 

Robertson, James, 161 

Rochambeau, Count de (ro'sham'bo), 169 

Rockefeller, John D., 408 

" Rocket," the, 247 

Rodgers, C. P., 414-n. 

Rolfe, John, 41-n.; 43 

Roosevelt, Theodore, Assistant Secretary 
of the Navy, 441-n. ; in the Spanish- 
American War, 446-447; \'ice-])resi- 
dent, 454; President, 455; sketch, 
455-n- 

Rosecrans, General William S., 344; 366 

Ross, General, 225-226 

" Rough Riders," 446-n. 

Royal colonies, 87 



Sabine Pass, attack on, 364 

Sac and Fox Indians, 270 

St. Augustine, 26-28 

St. Clair, General, 192 

St. Gaudens, 471 

St. John, J. P., 419-n. 

St. Leger, Colonel, 148-150 

St. Philip, Fort, 340 

Salaries of President and other officials, 
400; 466 

Salem witchcraft, 98-99 

Samoa, 428 

Samoset (sam'o-set), 53 

Sampson, Rear Admiral William T., in 
command of naval force in Atlantic, 
441; blockade of Cervera, 444-445; 
448; 449; sketch, 444-n. 

Sandys, Sir Edwin, 43 

San Francisco, earthquake and fire, 462 

San Jacinto, battle of, 279 

San Jacinto and the Trent. 335 

San Juan (san hwan), battle of, 447 

.San Juan, Porto Rico, 449 

San Salvador (san sal'-va-dor), 19 

Santa Anna, General, in Texas Revolu- 
tion, 279; in Mexican War, 286 

Santa Fc, settlement, 32; in Mexican 
War, 283 



Santa Maria (san'ta ma-re'a), 17-18 

Santiago, battle of (san-ti-a'go), 445-448 

Santiago, blockade of, 444-445 

Saratoga, battle of, 151 

Sargent, John, 471 

Savage Station, battle of, 351 

Savannah, founded, 83; captured by Brit- 
ish, 165; fall of, 378 

Savannah, the, 210-n. 

Saybrook, founded, 60 

" Scalawags," 392 

Schley, Commodore W. S., 414; in com- 
mand of "Flying Squadron," 441; at 
Santiago, 444-445; 448-449; sketch, 
444-n. 

Schuyler, General Philip, 149; 151 

Scott, General Winfield, in the War of 
1812, 225; in Mexican War, 285-288; 
in War between the States, 332 

Secession, West threatens, 174; 207; New 
England threatens, 229; 280; of the 
South, 310; 314; 321 

Sedgewick, General, 357 

Seminary Ridge, 360 

Seminole War, 234; 270 

Semmes, Admiral Raphael, 348; 379 

Senecas (sen'e-kaz), 5 

Separatists or Independents, 50-51 

Scrapis, the, 163 

Seven days' battles, 3'^\ 

Seven Pines or Fair Oaks, battle of, ^40 

Sevier, John, 161 ^ 

Sewall, Arthur, 434 

Seward, W. H., on Compromise of 1850, 
297; Secretary of State, 319 

Sewing machine, 250 

Seymour, Horatio, 396 

Shafter, General William R., 446 

Shakers, 255 

Shannon, the, 220 

Shays's Rebellion, 174 

Shenandoah, the. 379-n. 

Sheridan, General Philip H., in the final 
campaign, 371; 374; 379-380; on Rio 
Grande frontier, 395 

Sherman Anti-Trust Law, 424; 465-466 

Sherman, James S., 467 

Sherman Silver Law, 425; repealed, 430 

Sherman, General William T., in Vicks- 
burg camiiaign, 362-364; march 
through _ Georgia, 375-378; sketch, 
375-n.; in the Carolinas, 379 

Shiloh Church, or Pittsburg Landing, bat- 
tle of, 339 

Sibley expedition, 342-343 

Sigel, General, 372 

Sigsbee, Captain, 439 

Silver discovered in the West, 291 

Simms, William Gilmore, 253 

Sioux Indians, 401-402 

Six Nations, 5-n. 

Slavery, in the colonies, 43-44; 56-n.; 
70-n.; 84; 86; 91-92; 95; 100; Vir- 
ginia opposes, 128-n.; Ordinance of 
1787, 175-176; and the Constitution, 
177-178; the Missouri question, 236- 
238; about 1830, 256-257; and aboli- 
tion, 257-259; and annexation of 



490 



INDEX 



Texas, 280; and the Mexican War, 
288-289; the Compromise of 1850, 293- 
298; Kansas question, 300-302; and 
the parties, 302-307; during the War, 

3-'4; 355-356 

Slidell, John, 335 

Sloat, Commodore, 285 

Smith, General E. Kirby, 344; 365 

Smith, Green Clay, 403-n. 

Smith, Captain John, 40-41 

Smith, Joseph, 255 

Smith, General W. S., 368. 

Smithsonian Institute, 252 

Smythe, General Alexander, 219 

Socialist party, 463 

Social life, manners and customs, in the 
colonies, 93; 99-100; 102-103; in 1790, 
185-186; about 1830, 259-260 

" Sons of Liberty," 124 

Soto, Ferdinand de, 25-26 

South, population and resources in i860, 
324-325; point of view, 323; courage 
and hope of, 325-326; line of defense, 
328-329 

South Carolina, settlement of, 80-82; se- 
ceded, 310; readmitted, 392 

South Dakota, admitted, 426 

South Pole, discovered, 414 

Spain, in the New World, 18-28; treaty 
of i8ig and cession of Florida, 233- 

234 
Spanish- American War, causes, 4^7-440; 
chief events, 442-449; results, 449- 

451 
Spanish Succession, War of, iio 
Specie Circular, 270-271 
Spoils System, 262-263 
Spottsylvania Court House, battle of, 372 
Squanto (skwan'to), 53-n. 
Squatter sovereignty, 300 
Stamp Act, passage, 123; repeal, 125 
Stamp Act, Congress, 124 
Standard Oil Company, 408-n.; 466 
Standard Time, 408 
Standish, Captain Myles, 52 
Stanwix, Fort, 150 
Star of the West, 317 
"Star-route" frauds, 417 
" Starving time," 41-42 
Stark, John, 150 
Statue of Liberty, 423 
Steamboat, Fulton's first, 209-210 
Steam for heating, 411 
Stephens, Alexander H., sketch, 311-n. ; 

on secession, 315 
Stephenson, Fort, 223 
Stephenson, George, 247 
Steuben, Baron von (fon stoi'ben), 153; 

'55 
Stevenson, Adlai E., 429; 454 
Stockton, Commodore, 285 
Stony Point, capture of, 157-158 
Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, 299 
Strikes, 409-410; Hay-Market riots, 422- 

423; Pullman, 430-431; anthracite 

miners, 465 
Stuart, General J. E. B., at Chancellors- 



ville, 357-358; second invasion of the 

North, 359-360; death, 373; sketch, 

373-n. 
Stuyvesant, Peter (sti've-sant), 74 
Sullivan, General, 144; 146; 161. 
Sumter, the, Confederate cruiser, 334 
Sumter, Fort, fall of, 319-320 
Sumter, Thomas, the " South Carolina 

Game-cock," 166 
Susan Constant, the, 37 
Swallow, Silas, 463 
Swedes in the Delaware valley, 75 
Syms, Benjamin, 92 



Taft, William H., in Philippines, 451; 
President, 467; sketch, 467-n. 

Tariff, first, 188; first protective in 1816, 
229-230; of 1824 and the " tariif of 
abominations," 242-243; and the sec- 
tions, 263-265; of 1832, 266; and nul- 
lification, 266-268; of 1842, 277; of 
1846, 283; of 1861, 384; of 1883, 417- 
418; McKinley, 424; of 1894, 430; 
Dingley, 436; Payne-Aldrich, 468 

Tarleton, British cavalry leader, 168 

Taylor, General Richard, 365 

Taylor, Zachary, in Mexican War, 284- 
286; President, 290; sketch, 293-n. ; 
death, 297 

Tea tax and the " tea party," 129-130 

Tecumseh, at Tippecanoe, 217; in War 
of 1812, 224 

Telegraph, 248-249 

Telephone, 412 

Temperance movement (Washingtonian 
societies), 255; about 1880, 4i6-n. 

Tennessee, ceded by North Carolina, 
171-n.; admitted, 186; seceded, 321; re- 
admitted, 390 

Tenure of Office Act, passed, 395; re- 
pealed, 420 

Texas, story of, 2yj-27<)\ movement 
toward annexation, 279-280; annexed, 
281; seceded, 310; readmitted, 392 

Thames, battle of, 224 

Thomas, General George H., at Mill 
Spring, 337; in Tennessee, 366-367; 
377-378 

Thomas, Theodore, 471 

Thurman, Allen (j., 424 

Ticonderoga, Fort (ti-kon'de-ro'ga), cap- 
tured by Ethan Allen, 134; captured 
by Burgoyne, 149 

Tilden, Samuel J., 402 

Tilghman, Colonel, 337 

Timrod, Henry, 470 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 217 

Toleration Act, in Maryland, 49 

Tompkins, Daniel D., 232 

Toombs, Robert, 295-n. 

Toral, General (to-ral'), 448 

Totem, 10 

Townshend Acts, 125-126 

Travis, William B., 279 

Trent, the, 335 



INDEX 



491 



Trenton, battle of, 146-147 

Tripoli, war with, 210-jii 

Trolley cars, 413 

Trusts, 408 

Tuscaroras (tus'ka-ro'raz), 5-n. 

Tutuila (too'too-e'la), 428 

Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), 470 

Tyler, John, elected Vice-president, J73- 
_'74; and the Whigs, 2y()-2yy; and 
Texas, 280; president peace conference, 
317 

Typewriter, 411 

u ■ 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 299 

Underground railways, 299 

l.'nited States of Colombia, 4.s3 

Utah, Mormon uprising, 304; admitted, 

426 
Utrecht, Treaty cf, no 

V 

Vaca. Cabeza de (kaba'sa da va'ka), 25 

'\'alentine, Edward, 471 

Valley Forge, 154-156 

Van Buren, Martin, in Jackson's cabinet, 
263; Vice-president, 269; President, 
272; sketch, 272-n.; candidate of aboli- 
tion party, 281-n.; candidate of Free 
Soilers, 290 

\'an Dorn, General Earl, 342-344; 362 

Van Rensselaer, General Stephen, 219 

Venezuela controversy, 433 

Vera Cruz, 286-287 

\'ermont, claimed by New Hampshire 
and New York, 134-n.; admitted, 186 

Verrazano (ver-ra-tsa'no3. 27 

\'espucius, Americus (,a-mer'i-cus ves-pu'- 
cius), 21-22 

Vicksburg, capture of, 362-364 

\'incennes (vin-senz'), 162 

Vinland, 14-n. 

Virginia, founding of, 35-47: develop- 
ment of, 65-67; and the western lands, 
171-n.; secedes, 321; readmitted, 392 

Vulture, the, 159 

W 

Waldseemiller, Martin (walt'za-mul-ler), 

2i-n. 
VVampanoags (wom'pa-no'ag), 54 
Wampum, 7-8 
War between the States, events leading' 

to, 309-326; principal events of, 328- 

385 , „ 

" Warhawks, 218 

War of 1812, causes of, 216; principal 
events of, 218-229 

War Revenue Act, 450 

Washington city, in 1800, 190; Capital 
removal, 203-n.; British attack, 225; 
beauty of, 470 

Washington, Fort, 144 

Washington, George, in the French and 
Indian War, 112-116; commander-in- 
chief of the Continental Army, 136; 



and the army before Boston, 138-140; 
defense of New York 'and the New 
Jersey campaign, 1 43-1 48; around Phil- 
adelphia, 151-157; at Yorktown, 168- 
170; in the Federal Convention, 176; 
President, 185; 196; death, 200-201; 
sketch, 200-n. 

Wasliington, state of, admitted, 426 

Washington, treaty of, 398-399 

ll'asfi, the, 220 

Watling's Island, 19 

Watson, Thomas E., 434; 463 

Wayne, General Anthony, at Stony Point, 
157-158; in Northwest, 192-193 

Weather bureau, 41 5-n. 

Weaver, James R., 416; 429-n. 

Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 277 

Webster, Daniel, tariff and the Great De- 
bate, 264-266; in Tyler's cabinet, 2y;: 
on the Compromise of 1850, 295-297; 
sketch, 297-n.; Capon Springs speech, 
299-n. 

Webster, Noah, 254-n. 

Wesley, John, 84 

West, the, emigration to and growth of, 
in 1790, 186; War of 1812, 230; about 
1830, 245; 259; about 1880, 415 

West Indies, trade with, 174; 271 

Westinghouse brake, 411 

West Virginia, struggle for, 330-331; ad- 
mitted, 322 

Weyler, General, the concentration pol- 
icy, 438-439 

Wheeler, General Joseph, in Civil War, 
378; in Spanish War, 446 

Wheeler, William A., 402 

Whigs, in the American Revolution, 
138-n.; beginning of the party, 240 

Whiskey Rebellion, 1 90-191 

Whistler, James McNeil, 471 

White, John, 31-32 

Whitefield, George, 84; 97 

White House, 471 

White Oak Swamp, battle of, 351 

White Plains, battle of, 145 

Whitman, Marcus, 282-n. 

Whitney, Eli, 187 

Whitney, William C, 425 

Whittier, John G., 253 

Wickyup (wick'y-up), 5 

Wigwam, s 

Wilcox, General, 362-n. 

Wilderness, battle of, 2^2 

Wilkes, Captain, 335 

Wiley, Dr. Harvey S., 449-n. 

Wilkinson, General James, 224 

Willard, Frances E., 416-n. 

William and Mary, 71; 105 

Williams, Roger, 58-59 

Williamsburg, battle of, 349 

Williamsburg bridge, 409-n. 

Wilmot Proviso, 288-289 

Wilson, Henry, 399 

Wilson's Creek, battle of, 334 

Wilson, Woodrow, 471 

Winclicster, battle of, 360 

Winthrop, John, 56 



492 



INDEX 



Wireless telegraphy, 459-n. 

Wisconsin, admitted, 282 

Wolfe, General James, 115-117 

Woman's suffrage, 426-n. 

Wood, General Leonard, in Spanish War. 

446; in Cuba, 456 
Wright Brothers, 414 
Writs of assistance, 121-122 
Wyoming Valley massacre, 161 
Wyoming, admitted, 426 



X, Y, & Z 

X Y Z affair, 198 

Yellow fever, 456-n. 

Yellow Tavern, battle of, 373 

Yorktown, surrender of, 169-170; 

of, 348-349 
Zollicoffer, General Felix, 337 



W61 



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